tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26128590213187272062017-08-15T09:00:39.458+08:00butterfly elephantcreating a place where rest and rejuvenation are paramountBethwynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11475065829110876067noreply@blogger.comBlogger601125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2612859021318727206.post-74550365360412661822017-08-15T09:00:00.000+08:002017-08-15T09:00:39.471+08:00Book Review: The Baby Animal Book by Jennifer Cossins<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ll5EoYn_de8/WYvOzhP9h_I/AAAAAAAAEJU/N5mB0JW_chcKNSWor3BUxm-Fmp2MBSAogCLcBGAs/s1600/9780734418159.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="548" data-original-width="440" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ll5EoYn_de8/WYvOzhP9h_I/AAAAAAAAEJU/N5mB0JW_chcKNSWor3BUxm-Fmp2MBSAogCLcBGAs/s320/9780734418159.jpg" width="256" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.hachette.com.au/jennifer-cossins/the-baby-animal-book" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">hachette</span></a></div><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Title:</b>&nbsp;The Baby Animal Book</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Author:</b>&nbsp;Jennifer Cossins</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Publication Date:</b>&nbsp;August 8th 2017</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Synopsis:&nbsp;</b>"What do you call a baby penguin? Or a baby owl? Or a baby platypus?</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">Come along on an illustrated journey through the animal kingdom with Tasmanian artist Jennifer Cossins and find out!"</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>My thoughts:</b>&nbsp;Not too long ago, I reviewed one of Jennifer Cossins' other books, <i>A - Z of Endangered Animals</i>, which I really liked. <i>The Baby Animal Book</i>&nbsp;has Cossins' beautiful style of artwork, and basically does what it says on the front. It is hard to really say much more about it than that. Some of the baby animal names I definitely didn't know, and I loved reading that.&nbsp;</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">This is a sweet little book, perfect for little people who love animals, particularly baby ones!</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">[I received a review copy of this book from Hachette in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!]</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>A favourite line from the book:</b>&nbsp;'A baby peacock is called a peachick.'</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>You would like this book if:</b>&nbsp;BABY ANIMALS, GUYS.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Rating: &nbsp;10/10</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>If you'd like to keep up to date with what I'm reading, follow me on Goodreads&nbsp;<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/5803895-bethwyn">here</a>!</b></span>Bethwynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11475065829110876067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2612859021318727206.post-32251165630528217912017-08-11T09:00:00.000+08:002017-08-11T09:00:16.694+08:00Book Review: Tin Man by Sarah Winman<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6D0pvlyRmXM/WYvK_pw9KrI/AAAAAAAAEJI/HO4nHyVi8NkeRE2jY41MI5LM5vnpRPxkACLcBGAs/s1600/31117613.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="295" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6D0pvlyRmXM/WYvK_pw9KrI/AAAAAAAAEJI/HO4nHyVi8NkeRE2jY41MI5LM5vnpRPxkACLcBGAs/s320/31117613.jpg" width="198" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31117613-tin-man" target="_blank">goodreads</a></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.bookdepository.com/Tin-Man-Sarah-Winman/9780755390960?ref=ButterflyElephant" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">book depository</span></a></div><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Title: </b>Tin Man</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Author:</b>&nbsp;Sarah Winman</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Publication Date:</b>&nbsp;August 2017</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Synopsis:&nbsp;</b>"It begins with a painting won in a raffle: fifteen sunflowers, hung on the wall by a woman who believes that men and boys are capable of beautiful things.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">And then there are two boys, Ellis and Michael, who are inseparable. And the boys become men, and then Annie walks into their lives, and it changes nothing and everything.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><i>Tin Man</i>&nbsp;sees Sarah Winman follow the acclaimed success of <i>When God Was a Rabbit</i>&nbsp;and <i>A Year of Marvellous Ways</i>&nbsp;with a love letter to human kindness and friendship, loss and living."</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>My thoughts:</b>&nbsp;The main thing I noticed while reading this is the underlying sense of pain. Everything is slightly painful, but also hopeful. It is a tragic, yet wonderful, hope, and you can't help but feel wrecked by it by the end of this short book.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">The book consists of what I can only describe as extended snapshots - times that are 'now', and times from the past. Much of it is Ellis, looking back on times with his mother, with Michael, with Annie, with his father. I find myself not wanting to give very much away about this book - the blurb has given you a bit of an idea, anyway - because I went in not knowing a lot, and I think that works really well for this book. You aren't sure what to expect, aside from feeling some things, and so you go in and meet this characters and feel for and with them.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">Ultimately, I think this book looks at the pain and joy of living and loving others, and it does it really, really, <i>really</i>&nbsp;well.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">[I received a review copy of this from Hachette in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!!]</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>A favourite line from the book:</b>&nbsp;'It would be as if the sun itself rose every morning on that wall, showering the silence of their mealtimes with the shifting emotion of light.'</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>You would like this book if:</b>&nbsp;you enjoy gentle tales that very slowly destroy you, and make you confront deep-held fears.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Tea to drink while reading this book:</b>&nbsp;Doesn't matter. Perhaps your tears will change the flavour. Perhaps spike your tea with some whisky?</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Rating: &nbsp;9/10</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>If you'd like to keep up to date with what I'm reading, follow me on Goodreads&nbsp;<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/5803895-bethwyn">here</a>!</b></span>Bethwynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11475065829110876067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2612859021318727206.post-56000846770806925462017-08-09T09:00:00.000+08:002017-08-09T09:00:42.047+08:00Goals // August<span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>July Goal Summary:</b></span><br /><br /><ul><li><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><i>Get back to my own editing</i>&nbsp;- HAHAHAHA. Okay. Well. I managed the tiniest bit, but mostly this is a nope for the last couple of weeks. I have been busy with other things, and honestly I think I needed a break from my own work. I may add this to my goals for this month, too, but ultimately I do intend on getting back to this. It's all sitting there ready to go, and I have gotten through about six chapters of editing, so that isn't too shabby.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><i>Start looking for places to enter my work for publication</i>&nbsp;- I did <b>so</b>&nbsp;much research for this, guys. I now have a notebook dedicated to places looking for short stories for collections, or competitions for poetry or prose entries, and I have started writing and brainstorming for a couple of things. I didn't contact three places about publication, but I did contact two. One was just a little email about writing short stories for a website, and the other was sending a collection of poetry off to a small publishing press for consideration. SCARY.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><i>Get back to Tabata</i>&nbsp;- this kind of happened but not really. The fact is that I am going through a rough patch at the moment with my health, and doing tabata all the time would probably just exacerbate my symptoms. So this one is just a bit of a weird neutral not-win/not-lose thing.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><i>Quit sugar!</i>&nbsp;- I am calling this one a win! I was almost sugar free for the entire month, aside from within the last week of July where Xin and I got this awful virus and had ridiculous sore throats and... we had many icecream. It had to happen. Anyway, I am back on the wagon now, and am going well. YES.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><i>More time outside </i>&nbsp;- also done. I did a few times of being out in the garden, either just admiring plants, or doing some weeding. I went for walks with Xin, and I spent time in my parent's garden, too. I still think I could spend even more time in nature, but this is a good move.</span></li></ul><div><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>August Goals</b></span></div><div><ul><li><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><i>Meditate every day in August</i>&nbsp;- I started the year off meditating every day during January and February, and then slowly started to tail off during March and April. By May and June I was pretty much not meditating at all, bar the occasional night when I remembered. Towards the end of July I picked it back up again and am so far doing quite well, but I would really like to get back into a daily practise properly.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><i>Try to do the exercise thing every day</i>&nbsp;- I don't really mind what this looks like, whether it's going for a (short) run or a long walk with Xin, or if it's just a short yoga routine at home in front of the television because I haven't been able to move much all day, I'd just like to get my body moving a little more.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><i>Put up a Booktube video every week in August</i>&nbsp;- This is mostly just to see if I can come up with ideas and keep sitting down in front of that camera. Didn't know I'm back on Booktube? Find my channel <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCr7bcqVJyQF3vQcZBc2gZ_A" target="_blank">here</a> - and hopefully you will see videos every week from me! :D</span></li></ul><div><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span></div></div><div><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">And that's me for this month! I realised last month's stuff was kind of forceful and pretty darn ambitious, so I am easing off a little here, leaving things a bit more open-ended. Particularly when it comes to exercise. Do you have any goals for this month? Or any recommendations for Booktube videos? Let me know!</span></div><div><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">Love to all who read.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><i>P.S. Apologies for the lack of photos this week! I will try and spruce up my goals posts in the future - I've just got a new laptop and am still getting used to it, so I ought to be back on track soon. ^_^</i></span></div>Bethwynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11475065829110876067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2612859021318727206.post-48455765348553556852017-08-03T17:49:00.003+08:002017-08-03T17:49:50.230+08:00Good Reading (and Watching) // For When You're Not Okay<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I have been dealing with a lot of my stuff coming up this week. Old problems, old pains. Some new ones in the mix, just to spice things up. Old traumas, too. I have felt like my existence is <i>wrong</i>, and that I am letting everyone down because I am not "better". I have felt lost, confused, and so <i>so angry</i>&nbsp;about things.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I have had good moments. They have been there. But at the moment, because I am feeling vulnerable and sad, and a whole mess of other stuff, I can mostly only remember the bad stuff of the week, and the stuff that is to come.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So, even though I just posted yesterday with some links that may interest you, I wanted to do one with links that I turn to sometimes when I am feeling awful, and downright not-okay. Here are a few. I hope they help you, wherever you're at.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://rainycafe.com/" target="_blank">http://rainycafe.com/</a></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">A dear online friend of mine, perhaps the first online friend I ever made back when I was in... middle school I think?, shared this link with me when I said I liked the sound of rain, but didn't have the money to invest in one of those sound-makey things. I have since found other ones, but I can't help coming back to this one. It calms me down to hear the rain, and sometimes I put on the cafe sounds, too, if I need to feel safe with other people that aren't going to ask me what's going on. Thanks, Moochi. I love you so much.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.exocomics.com/rain" target="_blank">http://www.exocomics.com/rain</a></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This one pairs so well with the rainy noises. I look at it for an instant feeling of coziness and calm. Extra Ordinary comics does a lot of amazing stuff that makes me giggle and smile, which is something that cannot be overlooked at times like this.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.terriwindling.com/blog/2016/04/illness-as-narrative.html" target="_blank">http://www.terriwindling.com/blog/2016/04/illness-as-narrative.html</a></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">An old blog post from Myth &amp; Moor that I return to whenever chronic illness recurrence is getting me down. I believe this was shared with me about a year ago by a spoonie friend, and I have saved it for times when I just feel so beaten down and frustrated that chronic illness is <i>still a thing that I have</i>. This is helpful.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I am going to leave it there, and go find some faerie books to lose myself in. I may do another post like this if it proves helpful for others.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>Bethwynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11475065829110876067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2612859021318727206.post-45856165319265560462017-08-03T09:00:00.000+08:002017-08-03T09:00:45.759+08:00Good Reading (and Watching) // July 2017<span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">Hi guys!</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">Just a few links I've rounded up of stuff I have been liking lately. Enjoy!!</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/apr/04/marvel-comics-diversity-sales" target="_blank">Is diversity to blame for Marvel's sales slump - or just lack of imagination?</a></b></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/apr/18/jackie-french-to-be-a-woman-in-power-now-you-need-to-be-better-than-men" target="_blank">Jackie French: 'To be a woman in power now, you need to be better than men'.</a></b></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/o4kPLrk2EtU/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/o4kPLrk2EtU?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span>Bethwynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11475065829110876067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2612859021318727206.post-11659884211533834062017-08-01T09:00:00.000+08:002017-08-01T09:00:43.750+08:00Reading // July 2017<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>books read:</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">~ A Table in the Orchard by Michelle Crawford (re-read)</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">~ Solar Bones by Mike McCormack (review)</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">~ A Year in Paris by Janice MacLeod (review)</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">~ Corpselight (Verity Fassbinder #2) by Angela Slatter (review)</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">~ Stay With Me by Ayobami Adebayo</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">~ The Just City (Thessaly #1) by Jo Walton</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">~ The Philosopher Kings (Thessaly #2) by Jo Walton</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">~ Tinman by Sarah Winman (review)</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">~ The Magician's Nephew (Narnia #1/#6 depending on who you talk to) by C. S. Lewis (co-read with Xin)</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">~ Lady Midnight (Dark Artifices #1) by Cassandra Clare</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">~ Eat Sweat Play: How Sport Can Change Our Lives by Anna Kessel</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>currently reading:</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">~ The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu (buddy read)</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">~ My Family and Other Animals by Gerard Durrell</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">~ Necessity (Thessaly #3) by Jo Walton</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This month was actually pretty good for reading (*is surprised*). I have been feeling like I was heading into a slump basically all month, so to see everything written out in black and white is actually really interesting. Wow.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I needed comfort reading this month, so I was re-reading <i>A Table in the Orchard</i>&nbsp;for probably the fifth time. So lovely. Dreams.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Many review books followed this! If you want to read the reviews, I will link the ones that are up at the moment, but some are still coming.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The <i>Thessaly</i>&nbsp;books were a surprise which just kind of jumped in and took over my brain for a few days. I am working my way through the third book now, and I can honestly say that these books are fantastic. I wouldn't mind owning them (I've been reading copies from the library).</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Lady Midnight</i>&nbsp;was a foray back into the world of the shadowhunters and honestly, I am... still a little confused as to whether I really enjoyed this or not. I mean, I did, but also... such drama, such pain, such OW. &nbsp;</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And finally, <i>Eat Sweat Play </i>&nbsp;made me really think, made me want to get back into sport (a feat in itself), and made me a little angry but also hopeful. Highly recommend.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Sorry for the short sentences, guys, I am preeettyy exhausted at the time of writing. Just a note - I have brought back my booktube channel! It's still at Butterfly Elephant Books on YouTube, so feel free to head on over and check it out, and maybe leave a comment!</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">What are you reading at the moment? Anything wonderful?</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Love to all who read.</span>Bethwynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11475065829110876067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2612859021318727206.post-26246915690810794092017-07-18T09:00:00.000+08:002017-07-18T09:00:12.102+08:00Author Interview: Angela Slatter<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.85pt; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">Following the release of Corpselight, the second book in the Verity Fassbinder trilogy, I got some time to send Angela Slatter a few questions about the book, and about writing and reading. Below are her answers! I'd like to thank Angela again for taking time out to answer my questions, and also Jessica Skipper for facilitating the interview. Enjoy!</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;"><br /></span></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-U6zcmEjobJI/WWwSWfxI3nI/AAAAAAAADdg/ASibW84F8kksBRC2DuBLWmMfTirQXaaDwCLcBGAs/s1600/Dr-Angela-Slatter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="387" data-original-width="267" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-U6zcmEjobJI/WWwSWfxI3nI/AAAAAAAADdg/ASibW84F8kksBRC2DuBLWmMfTirQXaaDwCLcBGAs/s320/Dr-Angela-Slatter.jpg" width="220" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.angelaslatter.com/" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Dr Angela Slatter</span></a></span></span></div><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;"><br /></span></b></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">Congratulations on the release of Corpselight! And thank you for taking some time to answer my questions!</span></b><span style="color: black;"><u></u><u></u></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.85pt; margin: 0px;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; color: #222222; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 13.85pt; margin: 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">Thank you so much, Bethwyn, and you’re more than welcome!</span><span style="color: black;"><u></u><u></u></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.85pt; margin: 0px;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.85pt; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b id="m_2176099150992536513yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1499144229486_143474"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">You’ve mentioned in other interviews that the Verity Fassbinder books started out as a short story, “Brisneyland by Night” – did Verity keep asking for more of her story to be told, or was it fans of the short story asking for more? Verity strikes me as someone who would be trying to nudge you to write more about her.</span></b><span style="color: black;"><u></u><u></u></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.85pt; margin: 0px;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; color: #222222; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 13.85pt; margin: 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">Haha! Several people kept at me about how it would make a good novel, and it didn’t take long for me to&nbsp;</span><span style="color: black;">realise&nbsp;</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">Verity’s voice was still in my head. That if I paid attention to her, she’d tell me more stories. Vigil actually started as a mix of short stories and three novellas! Not a process I’d recommend for anyone undertaking their first novel … or indeed any novel!</span><span style="color: black;"><u></u><u></u></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.85pt; margin: 0px;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.85pt; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b id="m_2176099150992536513yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1499144229486_143494"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">I have read that you like to plot your books, but also like to see where things go: have the characters in the Fassbinder books taken you in new directions that you didn’t expect?</span></b><span style="color: black;"><u></u><u></u></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.85pt; margin: 0px;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; color: #222222; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 13.85pt; margin: 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">Yes! I’m kind of partway between plotter and pantser – I work out a rough structure and know what my high points are going to be, where the story needs to turn. But that also gives me leeway; and I’m not averse to writing out of order. There’s a lot in Corpselight about Verity’s family that I did not expect at all!</span><span style="color: black;"><u></u><u></u></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; color: #222222; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 13.85pt; margin: 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; color: #222222; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 13.85pt; margin: 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">I’m currently finishing off Restoration, the last Verity book, and the same sort of thing is happening, characters showing up and saying “Hey, more of my story, please! I’m really interesting.”</span><span style="color: black;"><u></u><u></u></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.85pt; margin: 0px;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.85pt; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b id="m_2176099150992536513yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1499144229486_143517"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">Verity often refers to books and libraries for information, and has had ‘itchy fingers’ to borrow books from others before: is this a reflection of you, too? (I love Verity’s library setup, by the way!)</span></b><span style="color: black;"><u></u><u></u></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.85pt; margin: 0px;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; color: #222222; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 13.85pt; margin: 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">Short answer: Yes!</span><span style="color: black;"><u></u><u></u></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; color: #222222; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 13.85pt; margin: 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">Long answer: Yes, yes, yes!!!</span><span style="color: black;"><u></u><u></u></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.85pt; margin: 0px;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.85pt; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b id="m_2176099150992536513yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1499144229486_143536"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">You have really made your mark as someone very good at writing within short story and novella formats. How is it going writing novel-length work, not to mention a trilogy of them?</span></b><span style="color: black;"><u></u><u></u></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.85pt; margin: 0px;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; color: #222222; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 13.85pt; margin: 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">Challenging! It’s a different set of skills – and after I’d finished Vigil I felt as if I’d forgotten how to write a short story! But it’s just a matter of going back to first principles, reminding yourself of the shape of the different forms. I found it much easier after Corpselight to return to the short form because I think I’d been through the process before.</span><span style="color: black;"><u></u><u></u></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; color: #222222; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 13.85pt; margin: 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; color: #222222; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 13.85pt; margin: 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">One of the reasons I do the plotting structure thing is to help me keep on track with the longer pieces. It’s like the Pirates’ Code, good guidelines.</span><span style="color: black;"><u></u><u></u></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.85pt; margin: 0px;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.85pt; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b id="m_2176099150992536513yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1499144229486_143559"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">Community and family come across as being incredibly important, particularly with the extra information we get about V’s family in&nbsp;<i id="m_2176099150992536513yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1499144229486_143561">Corpselight</i>. It seems as if V has created her own family and community: was this something that was important to you in writing, or came about naturally?</span></b><span style="color: black;"><u></u><u></u></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.85pt; margin: 0px;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; color: #222222; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 13.85pt; margin: 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">I’ve always been fascinated by how we create our own families – not just the people we share blood with, but the friends we gather around ourselves. I’m fascinated by devotion between people, not necessarily the romantic kind, but the supportive friendship kind. How people find each other, gather, and take care of each other, especially in a time when so-called “traditional” family structures seem to breaking down, we’re taking the chance to make something different for ourselves. If there’s a vacuum, we try to fill it.</span><span style="color: black;"><u></u><u></u></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.85pt; margin: 0px;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.85pt; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b id="m_2176099150992536513yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1499144229486_143577"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">You have mentioned in another interview about maybe needing a Weyrd Bestiary to keep things straight – do you keep notes for this? (I imagine I would get them a bit confused!) Any plans to put something like this out as a companion book to the series?</span></b><span style="color: black;"><u></u><u></u></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.85pt; margin: 0px;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; color: #222222; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 13.85pt; margin: 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">Ha! No, not yet. If the series were to continue then I think I’d need a bestiary and a database to keep track of people and their powers! But, yes, it would be a cool little artefact!</span><span style="color: black;"><u></u><u></u></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.85pt; margin: 0px;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.85pt; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b id="m_2176099150992536513yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1499144229486_143594"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">What kind of reader are you? Serial reader (many at once), or one at a time? And do you mix up your fiction and nonfiction?</span></b><span style="color: black;"><u></u><u></u></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.85pt; margin: 0px;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; color: #222222; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 13.85pt; margin: 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">I’m the most appalling serial reader. I have about five or six books on the go at once. My nonfiction reading tends to be mostly for research for stories, though, so I’m not an habitual reader of non-fic!</span><span style="color: black;"><u></u><u></u></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.85pt; margin: 0px;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.85pt; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b id="m_2176099150992536513yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1499144229486_143611"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">And finally, some quick questions!</span></b><span style="color: black;"><u></u><u></u></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.85pt; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b id="m_2176099150992536513yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1499144229486_143617"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">What are your current favourites?</span></b><span style="color: black;"><u></u><u></u></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.85pt; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b id="m_2176099150992536513yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1499144229486_143623"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">... reading?&nbsp;</span></b><b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;"></span></b><span style="color: black;"><u></u><u></u></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; color: #222222; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 13.85pt; margin: 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">Re-reading John Connolly’s A Game of Ghosts – he’s the author whose work I wait for every year. I say I’m going to pace myself, but I never do.</span><span style="color: black;"><u></u><u></u></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; color: #222222; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 13.85pt; margin: 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><b id="m_2176099150992536513yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1499144229486_143633" style="font-family: Georgia, &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">...drinking?</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; color: #222222; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 13.85pt; margin: 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">Black coffee for day-to-day, with intermittent peppermint tea to make sure I don’t start seeing through time and space.</span><span style="color: black;"><u></u><u></u></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; color: #222222; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 13.85pt; margin: 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; color: #222222; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 13.85pt; margin: 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">Out and about: Whiskey, neat, single malt.</span><span style="color: black;"><u></u><u></u></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; color: #222222; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 13.85pt; margin: 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><b id="m_2176099150992536513yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1499144229486_143649" style="font-family: Georgia, &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">...eating?</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; color: #222222; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 13.85pt; margin: 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">Pancakes with bacon and maple syrup, or my housemate’s chicken coleslaw, or my Mum’s lemon meringue pie.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.85pt; margin: 0px;"><b id="m_2176099150992536513yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1499144229486_143663" style="font-family: Georgia, &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif;">...loving about the current season?</b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.85pt; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">That I’m not melting in summer!</span></div>Bethwynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11475065829110876067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2612859021318727206.post-12882675913535768242017-07-18T08:30:00.000+08:002017-07-18T08:30:02.775+08:00Book Review: Corpselight by Angela Slatter<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EYS0W0s0fbQ/WWWSp6ZNzWI/AAAAAAAADaI/cF8LWrMEtnIDuv7xM08eY5Rrc4-lt-YIgCLcBGAs/s1600/32334385.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="311" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EYS0W0s0fbQ/WWWSp6ZNzWI/AAAAAAAADaI/cF8LWrMEtnIDuv7xM08eY5Rrc4-lt-YIgCLcBGAs/s320/32334385.jpg" width="209" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32334385-corpselight?from_search=true" target="_blank">goodreads</a></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.bookdepository.com/Corpselight/9781784294342?ref=ButterflyElephant" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: x-small;">book depository</span></a></div><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Title:</b>&nbsp;Corpselight</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Author:</b>&nbsp;Angela Slatter</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Series: </b>Verity Fassbinder #2</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Publication Date:</b>&nbsp;July 11th 2017</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Synopsis:&nbsp;</b>"</span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">Life in Brisbane is never simple for those who walk between the worlds.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">Verity's all protecting her city, but right now that's mostly running surveillance and handling the less exciting cases for the Weyrd Council - after all, it's hard to chase the bad guys through the streets of Brisbane when you're really, really pregnant.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">An insurance investigation sounds pretty harmless, even if it is for 'Unusual Happenstance'. That's not usually a clause Normals use - it covers all-purpose hauntings, angry genii loci, ectoplasmic home invasion, demonic possession, that sort of thing - but Susan Beckett's claimed three times in three months. Her house keeps getting inundated with mud, but she's still insisting she doesn't need or want help...until the dry-land drownings begin.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">V's first lead in takes her to Chinatown, where she is confronted by kitsune assassins. But when she suddenly goes into labour, it's clear the fox spirits are not going to be helpful."</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>My thoughts:</b>&nbsp;I love this trilogy, and I love this book. In the first book of the Verity Fassbinder books, <i>Vigil</i>, we met Verity and started to discover a few things about her slightly unusual job description, and the company she keeps, and also a little about her own nature. In <i>Corpselight</i>, we get so much more. We start to learn way more about Verity's family, getting back stories from those she knows (or thought she knew?) and discover even more about the Weyrd world and the people and creatures that reside there.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">As this is the second book in the trilogy, I am being even more vague than usual, but I am kind of desperate to chat about this book with someone soon. The characters that Slatter creates in this trilogy are just...fascinating, and flawed, and wonderful. Even the 'evil' characters have multiple sides, and Slatter doesn't shy away from showing flaws in her main characters, either. Verity is still one of the most amazing, strong (literally), and awesome characters that I have had the pleasure to read, and, while I know the final book isn't due out til next year, I am already eagerly making grabby hands toward it.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">I still love that Slatter has created a world within an already existing city - Brisbane, QLD - and how easily she melds the two together. It comes across as seamless, and I don't always like things set in Australian cities as they can come across as being one-dimensional (just bush, or sand, for example. Or heat.). In Slatter's case, however, the city takes on a new shape, and yet still seems itself. We get to look underneath the cover and discover what the glamour is hiding, and I just adore that. In between my gasps of shock whilst reading this book, there were sighs of happiness and appreciation, and just sheer joy (although a lot of those may have come from Verity talking about libraries and books - her love of them rivals my own).</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">All in all, I highly recommend the Verity Fassbinder books - they are amazing to read, and I am already contemplating a reread.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">{I received a review copy of this book from Hachette in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!!!}</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>A favourite line from the book:</b>&nbsp;'Even amongst the Weyrd there are death tourists. Who'd have thought I'd be the one to raise the tone of a place?'</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>You would like this book if:</b>&nbsp;Well, obviously you will love it if you enjoyed the first one; if you are a fan of gentle detective work with darker, fantastical themes, and an alternate world that Normals don't even know.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Tea to drink while reading this book:</b>&nbsp;With the slight Japanese influence from the <i>kitsune</i>, I would say something with Sencha. I am partial to T2's Sencha Vanilla, or Sencha Peach (though my husband is more of a Sencha Mango fan!).</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Rating: &nbsp;9/10</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>If you'd like to keep up to date with what I'm reading, follow me on Goodreads&nbsp;<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/5803895-bethwyn">here</a>!</b></span>Bethwynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11475065829110876067noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2612859021318727206.post-70315882370545344822017-07-10T09:00:00.000+08:002017-07-10T09:00:00.276+08:00Book Review: A Paris Year by Janice MacLeod<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-msfB1HYSldU/WWHZy2V28UI/AAAAAAAADZI/6gIbD_Az4QgX6KtM62LhcwA-jVeCtGAsgCLcBGAs/s1600/31450874.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="267" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-msfB1HYSldU/WWHZy2V28UI/AAAAAAAADZI/6gIbD_Az4QgX6KtM62LhcwA-jVeCtGAsgCLcBGAs/s320/31450874.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31450874-a-paris-year" target="_blank">goodreads</a></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://www.bookdepository.com/Paris-Year-Janice-MacLeod/9781250130129?ref=ButterflyElephant" target="_blank">book depository</a></span></div><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Title:</b>&nbsp;A Paris Year</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Author:</b>&nbsp;Janice MacLeod</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Publication Date:</b>&nbsp;10th July 2017</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Synopsis:&nbsp;</b>"On her first day in Paris, Janice MacLeod, the author of the bestselling book <i>Paris Letters</i>, began a journal, recording in illustrations and words nearly every sight, smell, taste, and thought she experienced in the City of Light. More than a diary, it's a detailed and colourful love letter to one of the most romantic and historically rich cities on earth. Combining personal observations and anecdotes with stories and facts about famous figures in Parisian history, this visual tale of discovery, through the eyes of an artist, is sure to delight, inspire, and charm."</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>My thoughts:</b>&nbsp;This book is a lovely one to sit down to. Beautiful watercolour artworks by the author are interspersed with photographs she has taken, particularly of street art. I particularly loved the section where she was looking for a specific colour - photographs blended with little swatches of watercolour paint as she tried to find the right shade.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">The written anecdotes are sometimes nostalgic, sometimes adoring (particularly of the changes in the season), and sometimes deliver straight facts or insights into how the author thinks. I mostly enjoyed these, but some parts I found myself getting a little... well, bored. I think that was because I wasn't personally interested in the topic of some of the sections, and as they tended to spread over a couple of days, I found I had to stop myself from skipping large sections. Otherwise, though, I find this a delightful, restful read, with absolutely gorgeous artwork to match. A lovely one to pick up and peruse.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">[I received a review copy of this book from Hachette in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!]</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>A favourite line from the book:</b>&nbsp;'You truly notice the genius of the arborists in Paris once spring begins to bloom. Boulevards burst with blooms for miles, and monuments seem framed by petals.'</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>You would like this book if:</b>&nbsp;You enjoy beautiful watercolour artwork; you love reading about Paris and all the small moments of each day within the city.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Tea to drink while reading this book:</b>&nbsp;I am pretty sure you ought to go with coffee for this one, as that seems more like the beverage of choice for Parisians.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Rating: &nbsp;6.5/10</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>If you'd like to keep up to date with what I'm reading, follow me on Goodreads&nbsp;<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/5803895-bethwyn">here</a>!</b></span>Bethwynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11475065829110876067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2612859021318727206.post-51045520259075637522017-07-05T16:52:00.000+08:002017-07-05T16:52:51.528+08:00Goals // July<span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">I have been posting so randomly lately, with a post here, then a break of ten days, then three posts, then a break of a week. Sorry about that! And, right in the middle of that, I am going to try something new out! (*cue confused but celebratory parade with band* - I imagine this sounds something like Genie from Aladdin singing 'hail the conquering hero' and then winding down suddenly...)</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">I have been rediscovering my love for another blog, <a href="http://thedaintysquid.com/" target="_blank">The Dainty Squid</a>, written by the lovely Kaylah. She has been writing her <a href="http://thedaintysquid.com/2017/07/july-goals.html" target="_blank">goals blogs</a> for a little while now, and I am feeling inspired by her, so I wanted to give it a go. Things could go terribly wrong! Or terribly right? Who knows!</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Jb0JJX2dV0s/WVynF_5k4XI/AAAAAAAADVc/6Bw_gMHq-iEfCLFUIOcbGjWZGFKX4apKACLcBGAs/s1600/DSC_2333.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Jb0JJX2dV0s/WVynF_5k4XI/AAAAAAAADVc/6Bw_gMHq-iEfCLFUIOcbGjWZGFKX4apKACLcBGAs/s640/DSC_2333.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><br /><h4><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">July Goals</span></h4><div><ul><li><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><i>Get back to my own editing</i>&nbsp;- I finished the first draft of a novel a few weeks back, and I started editing it, but kind of stalled about a week ago. I really want to get back to it, and whip that novel into a shape that is pleasing to my eye.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><i>Start looking for places to enter my work for publication</i>&nbsp;- oh this is so <u>nerve-wracking</u>. I hardly do this. At ALL. I have written multiple short stories, multiple poems (and nearly self-published my own collection of poetry once), and written two novels, plus a lot of a couple of others which remain unfinished. But do I ever send them off anywhere, or attempt to get the published? Nope. I dream about being published, but it just isn't happening because <i>I'm not doing anything</i>. This really needs to stop. So, this month, I want to contact <b>3 locations</b>&nbsp;about publishing my work.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><i>Get back to Tabata</i>&nbsp;- part of my recovery is to get some vigorous exercise, like Tabata, four times a week. I have been pretty much failing this lately because of countless migraines, stomach pains, and one random ovarian cyst rupture that took five days to heal even slightly. I am feeling a bit beaten up at the moment (by my own body), but this is part of my health-improving-plan, so back to it I go!</span></li><li><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><i>Quit sugar!</i>&nbsp;- Yes yes the white poison. I am actually not too bad with this, but I do have the habit of gorging on chocolate when I get my period, or eating way more fruit than I probably need to. Now, I am not quitting sugar forever, and I have been doing a lot of research about this, but I want to try and quit as much sugar as possible for at least a little while and see how I go. This is also kind of important for my recovery, too, so here goes nothing!</span></li><li><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><i>More time outside</i>&nbsp;- a main part of Winter for me is kind of not leaving the house much at all, which is actually lovely sometimes, and really stifling at other times. I want to try and get outside and hang out with some trees a little more when the weather is permitting, and just breathe a bit more fresh air. Going to aim to do this twice a week at least - proper outings where I am not just standing on my back verandah.</span></li></ul><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CBLfqmoS74g/WVyoThEfqEI/AAAAAAAADVk/f62J5iHUb9Ijoj58KzCCu3B81vdYOJiPwCLcBGAs/s1600/DSC_2334.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1072" data-original-width="1600" height="427" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CBLfqmoS74g/WVyoThEfqEI/AAAAAAAADVk/f62J5iHUb9Ijoj58KzCCu3B81vdYOJiPwCLcBGAs/s640/DSC_2334.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span></div></div><div><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">Writing those down as making me feel way more driven and happy at the moment, and I am going to try and keep that going by heading off to get some more stuff done, maybe even some editing! I will review how I went at the beginning of next month, and see if this has been a successful experiment! ^_^</span></div><div><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">Does anyone else have some goals for the month? Do you find reading about other people's goals inspiring?</span></div><div><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">Love to all who read!</span></div>Bethwynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11475065829110876067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2612859021318727206.post-80091415772094684612017-07-04T09:00:00.000+08:002017-07-04T09:00:47.198+08:00Book Review: Solar Bones by Mike McCormack<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rAvFPgeUZcc/WVdGuLmNNvI/AAAAAAAADSw/cLQCyspxRqwvAcregbInr7CE3oRFMqaowCLcBGAs/s1600/34656398.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="308" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rAvFPgeUZcc/WVdGuLmNNvI/AAAAAAAADSw/cLQCyspxRqwvAcregbInr7CE3oRFMqaowCLcBGAs/s320/34656398.jpg" width="207" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34656398-solar-bones" target="_blank">goodreads</a></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.bookdepository.com/Solar-Bones-Mike-McCormack/9781786891297?ref=ButterflyElephant" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">book depository</span></a></div><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Title:</b>&nbsp;Solar Bones</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Author:</b>&nbsp;Mike McCormack</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Publication Date:</b>&nbsp;28 June 2017</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>RRP:</b>&nbsp;$19.99AUD</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Synopsis:&nbsp;</b>"Marcus Conway has come a long way to stand in the kitchen of his home and remember the rhythms and routines of his life. Considering with his engineer's mind how things are constructed - bridges, baking systems, marriages - and how they may come apart.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">Mike McCormack captures with tenderness and feeling, in continuous, flowing prose, a whole life, suspended in a single hour."</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>My thoughts:</b>&nbsp;This is a remarkable book. Its style alone dictates that - written in a prose, run-on, stream of thought way that just keeps going, no full-stops at all. I found it surprisingly easy to drop into, and remarkably hard to tear myself away from. The way it is written sometimes lulls you into a gentle wondering, and sometimes seems anxiety-provoking, grabbing onto you and holding you with the urgency of its text.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">Marcus is an interesting character, and not because he does anything particularly remarkable or magnificent. During the entirety of the book, he stands in his kitchen, remembering things that have happened, occasionally coming back to the present, trying to break himself out of the reverie, but generally always heading straight back into another memory.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">I was gripped by this book, from the very beginning. I love the way McCormack set it all out, and how the storyline weaves in and out with those of his wife and children, how we hear from them but also hear what Marcus is thinking as they speak to him. This book manages to remind the reader of the complexity and wonder of a single life - and how that can be so easily lost amongst the world, the politics, the disasters. How it can be reduced to a number, and how that single life can want so much to just be acknowledged.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">There is something wistful and wonderful about this book and, while occasionally my own thoughts tore me away from the narrative, I was gripped for the majority of the book. I highly recommend you check it out.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">[I received a review copy of this book from Allen &amp; Unwin in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!!!]</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>A favourite line from the book:</b>&nbsp;'this moment here</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">this crowded room with its clutter of chairs and tables</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">these people, with their separate thoughts and lives</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">I was overwhelmed with a sense of what a strange privilege it was to be able to sit in this coffee shop among other people who did not wish me any harm and who would, more likely than not, be happy for me if they were to know that I was having a good day'</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>You would like this book if:</b>&nbsp;you want to try something a little different, with a style all its own; you enjoy literary fiction that focuses on a single life, and its intersections with others.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Tea to drink while reading this book:</b>&nbsp;it was really hard to drink anything whilst reading this book - if you do, just be prepared to have the book still in front of your face so you don't miss anything.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Rating: &nbsp;8.5/10</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>If you'd like to keep up to date with what I'm reading, follow me on Goodreads&nbsp;<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/5803895-bethwyn">here</a>!</b></span>Bethwynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11475065829110876067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2612859021318727206.post-46017380386197024802017-07-03T09:00:00.000+08:002017-07-03T09:00:18.966+08:00Book Review: The Garden Apothecary by Reece Carter<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jpaWN_iwInI/WVdJ769L2xI/AAAAAAAADS8/9fDsy2NyDHc2J2BVlQT-DtVYUL33pTAlgCLcBGAs/s1600/35099416.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="318" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jpaWN_iwInI/WVdJ769L2xI/AAAAAAAADS8/9fDsy2NyDHc2J2BVlQT-DtVYUL33pTAlgCLcBGAs/s320/35099416.jpg" width="226" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35099416-the-garden-apothecary" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">goodreads</span></a></div><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Title:</b>&nbsp;The Garden Apothecary</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Author:</b>&nbsp;Reece Carter</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Publication Date:</b>&nbsp;July 1st 2017</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Synopsis:&nbsp;</b>"</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">Health and wellness is a booming sector in Australia. We eat clean and we detox our pantries. But what about our medicine cabinets and the lotions and potions we use on our skin? Shouldn’t we take as much care with those as we do with food?</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">&nbsp;</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">In The Garden Apothecary, Herb Nerd Reece Carter shows you how to grow and make your own gentle herbal remedies, taking you right through from growing your own plants to concocting your own tinctures and ointments.&nbsp;</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">Using forty of his favourite recipes, Reece reveals how you can use organic raw ingredients to relieve a wide range of everyday ailments, naturally.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">The Garden Apothecary reveals how natural remedies can help you:</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">* boost your immunity and fight flus and colds</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">* relieve stress and sleep issues&nbsp;</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">* improve your digestion and gut health&nbsp;</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">* increase your vitality and libido; and</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">* resolve skin and beauty problems.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818;" /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This book will inspire you to take hold of your health with remedies backed by traditional use and modern science that can all be rustled up from your own garden or pantry.</span></span><span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;">"</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>My thoughts:</b>&nbsp;I jumped at the chance to get my hands on a book all about herbs - I love them! At the moment, my herbs are struggling to recover after the hot Australian sun scorched them over summer, but I am always happy to see my thyme spilling out over the side of its pot, or to grab a few leaves of peppermint for some fresh mint tea.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">Carter has put together a really lovely book here: the photography is beautifully styled, and the I really loved the way all the information is set out. Carter gives you a little idea about basic techniques to use for preparing your herbal remedies, as well is a few chapters on different topics, such as gut health, but it is in the recipes where this really shines.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">The methods are simply laid out, and Carter has done his best to indicate what he means by certain terms. I have bookmarked quite a few things to try out, including <i>Fresh Feverfew Tea</i>&nbsp;as I suffer from migraines, and the <i>'Chill Pill' Bath Bomb</i>&nbsp;because I love bath bombs! Carter also has a whole section about ways and means to grow your own herbs, which was really well done.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">Whilst I knew quite a lot of what Carter talks about here already, I still learnt quite a bit, and it is so nice to have a book with simple recipes nearby so I can choose what herbs to grow and how to use them.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">[I received a review copy of this book from Harlequin Non Fiction in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!!!]</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>You would like this book if:</b>&nbsp;You are interested in herbalism, natural remedies, or making your own candles!</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Tea to drink while reading this book:</b>&nbsp;Carter has so many herbal concoctions here for all different ailments - I suggest trying one out while you peruse the rest of the book!</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Rating: &nbsp;7.5/10</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>If you'd like to keep up to date with what I'm reading, follow me on Goodreads&nbsp;<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/5803895-bethwyn">here</a>!</b></span>Bethwynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11475065829110876067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2612859021318727206.post-23706622433933194182017-07-02T09:00:00.000+08:002017-07-02T09:00:20.318+08:00Book Review: Rooms of One's Own by Adrian Mourby<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-T-GEVmB4Xoc/WVZKdJIIRZI/AAAAAAAADSg/50rBXJB6nTgwqY0L0J9sk-BXQxfq2Cd6wCLcBGAs/s1600/32073138.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="310" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-T-GEVmB4Xoc/WVZKdJIIRZI/AAAAAAAADSg/50rBXJB6nTgwqY0L0J9sk-BXQxfq2Cd6wCLcBGAs/s320/32073138.jpg" width="208" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32073138-rooms-of-one-s-own" target="_blank">goodreads</a></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.bookdepository.com/Rooms-of-Ones-Own-Adrian-Mourby/9781785781858?ref=ButterflyElephant" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: x-small;">book depository</span></a></div><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Title:</b>&nbsp;Rooms of One's Own: 50 Places that Made Literary History</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Author:</b>&nbsp;Adrian Mourby</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Publication Date:</b>&nbsp;26 June 2017</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Synopsis:&nbsp;</b>"Writers' relationships with their surroundings are seldom straightforward. While some, like Jane Austen and Thomas Mann, wrote novels set where they were staying (Lyme Regis and Venice respectively), Victor Hugo penned <i>Les Miserables</i>&nbsp;in an attic in Guernsey and Noel Coward wrote that most English of Plays, <i>Blithe Spirit</i>, in the Welsh holiday village of Portmeirion.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">Award-winning BBC drama producer Adrian Mourby follows his literary heroes around the world, exploring 50 places where great works of literature first saw the light of day. At each destination - from the Brontes' Yorkshire Moors to the New York of Truman Capote, Christopher Isherwood's Berlin to the now-legendary Edinburgh cafe where J. K. Rowling plotted Harry Potter's first adventures - Mourby explains what the writer was doing there and describes what the visitor can find today of that great moment in literature.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><i>Rooms of One's Own</i>&nbsp;takes you on a literary journey from the British Isles to Paris, Berlin, New Orleans, New York, and Bangkok and unearths the real-life places behind our best-loved works of literature."</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>My thoughts:</b>&nbsp;This is a lovely little book to sit down with and fly around the world from your armchair. Mourby has done the leg-work for you: checking out places from almost every continent and giving you descriptions of both the place as it was and as it is now, as well as details about the author in question: their life, their writing, sometimes their death.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">I was happily ensconced with this book of an afternoon, and it didn't take me a long time to power my way through it. I really loved some of the descriptions, but it does pay to notice that the ones you are most interested in tend to be the ones you know more about previously. A few of the authors in this book I had not come across before, or had only a vague idea of whom Mourby was speaking, and that kind of made the experienced a little muddied.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">A few of Mourby's descriptions (or perhaps this was just is writing style) left a little to be desired for me, too, as occasionally I felt he got too caught up in his own feelings about a place or a person, and departed from the 'story' a little too much. However, this was interspersed with some really beautiful sentences, so overall the book was an enjoyable read.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">My particular favourites were Beatrix Potter in Cumbria, and Lafcadio Hearn in Japan. Some of the descriptions made me want to get back to reading the author's work, and I think that was a perfect result.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">[I received a review copy of this book from Allen &amp; Unwin in exhange for an honest review. Thank you!!]</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>You would like this book if:</b>&nbsp;You enjoy small forays into the world of writers and their places of production.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Tea to drink while reading this book:</b>&nbsp;Scour the interwebs for your favourite author's preferred beverage. Drink in abundance (unless tis alcohol, then please drink responsibly).</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Rating: &nbsp;6.5/10</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>If you'd like to keep up to date with what I'm reading, follow me on Goodreads&nbsp;<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/5803895-bethwyn">here</a>!</b></span>Bethwynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11475065829110876067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2612859021318727206.post-24386428402458486582017-07-01T09:00:00.000+08:002017-07-01T09:00:23.817+08:00Reading // June 2017<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>books read:</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">~ The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Sparks</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">~ Beyond the Pale: Folklore, Family, and the Mystery of Our Hidden Genes by Emily Urquhart</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">~ First, We Make the Beast Beautiful: A New Story About Anxiety by Sarah Wilson</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">~ Words in Deep Blue by Cath Crowley</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">~ The Hidden Life of Trees: What they Feel, How They Communicate - Discoveries from a Secret World by Peter Wohlleben</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">~ Voyager (Outlander #3) by Diana Gabaldon</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">~ The Garden Apothecary by Reece Carter (review)</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">~ Justice Hall (Mary Russell #6) by Laurie R. King</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">~ Margaret the First by Danielle Dutton</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">~ Rooms of One's Own: 50 Places That Made Literary History by Adrian Mourby (review)</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>currently reading:</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">~ Stranger the Dreamer by Laini Taylor (*clears throat*)</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">~ Solar Bones by Mike McCormack (review)</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">~ A Paris Year: My Day-to-Day Adventures in the Most Romantic City in the World by Janice MacLeod</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">10 books, and one of them is an Outlander book (over 1000 pages in this case)! Pretty pleased with that. A lot of my review books for this month were read beforehand, so it was kind of a light month for review books (up until now... I have five sitting here waiting for me to review them!).</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I have a list of books that I asked for from my mum - classics, things she studied in Uni, things she thinks I ought to read. <i>The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie</i> was one of them, and I finally got around to it today. And... I am still not entirely sure what to think. I am considering watching the movie (partially because Maggie Smith) to see if I 'get it' a little more, as I feel that a lot of the humour and comments Sparks was making here kind of whooshed right over my head.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Over half of what I read this month was nonfiction, if you count <i>Margaret the First</i>, a re-imagining&nbsp;of her life as nonfiction (creative nonfiction, probably). I am really loving nonfiction lately and it is making me request it more often for review. I love cookbooks, particularly, but then amazing things like <i>Beyond the Pale</i>&nbsp;become buried into my mind and I can't rest until I have hunted them out and read them.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Two books were "returns to series" this month. <i>Voyager</i> has been sitting on my TBR shelf for well over a year now, since I last read an Outlander book, and it is quite the beast. I never feel overly that Gabaldon should have edited down more, though, but I do get a sort of sense of 'exhaustion' by the end of each book. I do wonder if the series could have been twice as long is she had made each tome into two instead... The other 'return' was to the Mary Russell series with <i>Justice Hall</i>&nbsp;and it was so comforting to be back here. <i>Justice Hall</i>&nbsp;was not the absolute best of the series, but even having said that, it was still fantastic and a true joy to read. I have the next one, <i>The Game</i>, ready to go on my ebook Library lending app, and I just need to get through a few more things before I can dedicate sufficient time to it.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">What are you reading at the moment? Seriously, let me know in the comments. I love hearing about what people are reading! Also let me know if you think I should return to booktube...?</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Love to all who read!</span>Bethwynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11475065829110876067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2612859021318727206.post-76527392971207799862017-06-21T09:00:00.000+08:002017-06-21T09:00:07.670+08:00Book Review: A - Z of Endangered Animals by Jennifer Cossins<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2Ojn1beyv8E/WUi24OTme3I/AAAAAAAADLE/hBBV5WjKypY64tarDQonym9qqs0UecB9ACLcBGAs/s1600/9780734417954.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="379" data-original-width="328" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2Ojn1beyv8E/WUi24OTme3I/AAAAAAAADLE/hBBV5WjKypY64tarDQonym9qqs0UecB9ACLcBGAs/s320/9780734417954.jpg" width="276" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.bookdepository.com/-Z-of-Endangered-Animals-Jennifer-Cossins/9780734417954?ref=ButterflyElephant" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">book depository</span></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Title:</b>&nbsp;A - Z of Endangered Animals</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Author:</b>&nbsp;Jennifer Cossins</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Publication Date:</b>&nbsp;This edition published in June 2017</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Synopsis:&nbsp;</b>"On this journey through the alphabet you will encounter some of the world's most beautiful, rare and endangered animals - from the majestic Amur Tiger and the curious Kakapo, to the misunderstood Tasmanian Devil and the shy Zebra Duiker.</span><br /><span style="font-family: georgia, &quot;times new roman&quot;, serif;">Come on an illustrated expedition through the animal kingdom with Tasmanian artist Jennifer Cossins."</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>My thoughts:</b>&nbsp;Kids' books! Are they always for kids? Answer: no, most definitely not. There is so much joy to be found in picture books, no matter your age. In this particular book, Jennifer Cossins does an amazing job of introducing the reader to many different animals - giving a little bit of info about each, including an interesting fact, and then discussing why they are becoming harder to find.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">One might think that a book about just endangered animals would make the reader feel very sad, perhaps even defeated. And you do feel a little of that. But, with Cossins beautiful artwork and discussion of the animals, you also find yourself feeling motivated to help out more, and to learn more about the animals that we may lose forever, if we are not careful.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">This is a delightful book, beautifully presented, and I will be keeping it on my shelf. I suggest you check out a copy, too!</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">[I received a review copy of this book from Hachette in exchange for an honest book review. Thank you!!!]</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>A favourite line from the book:</b>&nbsp;'Interesting Fact: Kakapos are good climbers and although they can't fly, their wings are used like a parachute when jumping out of trees.'</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>You would like this book if:</b>&nbsp;You enjoy books about animals and learning about which animals are endangered; you enjoy beautiful illustrations.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Tea to drink while reading this book:</b>&nbsp;Something organic and fairtrade would be a good idea!</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Rating: &nbsp;10/10</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>If you'd like to keep up to date with what I'm reading, follow me on Goodreads&nbsp;<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/5803895-bethwyn">here</a>!</b></span>Bethwynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11475065829110876067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2612859021318727206.post-88791946918232305312017-06-12T15:03:00.000+08:002017-06-12T15:03:25.928+08:00Thoughts on 'getting better' and updates.<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Hi all,</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">First of all, I know things are still quite sporadic around here, and while I haven't had review books to talk about in a week or so, I still kind of wish I had posted something else up here just for you guys to read. I do love my blog, but sometimes it can kind of fall to the side when I have other stuff going on.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The 'other stuff' that I mention is mostly health-related, though other things have been happening. I have had some news about a friend in the last couple of months that has left me reeling a little, and not really sure how to move forward. It is also pressing all my buttons of 'this isn't about you, just shut up' and so nasty inside voices have been getting a bit more free reign than I'd like. I have also had really fantastic news about other friends, and plus the whole idea of maybe 'getting better' which I will get to in a moment, so I am often all-kinds-of-mixed-up.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">'Getting better'. It's a thing that I haven't really touched with a ten-foot pole for quite a few years. I started getting sick when I was 11, 16 years ago now. For many years, I wouldn't let myself consider that what I had was untreatable, or unknowable. I always thought there was some test/diet/exercise/thought pattern/affirmation out there that would "fix" me. And then I realised that this kind of thinking was really damaging me, because it meant I was blaming myself <i>a lot.</i></span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">If I hadn't gotten a certain kind of test yet, that was my fault. If I tried the diet and it didn't work, it was because I hadn't been 'strict' enough. If I tried to exercise and I got sicker, it was because my mental state was too weak, and I needed to try harder.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Not really helpful.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I have started a new treatment plan recently, after doing multiple new tests (new to me - I've never done them before) and <i>actually getting some results</i>&nbsp;instead of 'hmmm the tests say you're fine, so maybe just get some more sunshine or get a hobby'. And, against the odds that I feel have stacked up against me for so many years, the treatment is actually working. I am feeling better overall. I am working hard at my new treatment, because I need to, and being quietly hopeful, and also considering that this may all be psychosomatic (whatever! even if it is - yay for feeling better!). This jumble of emotions, plus the jumble of emotions I mentioned earlier, are getting all mashed together and it is some kind of rollercoaster ride, I will tell you that much.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The whole idea of 'getting better' feels really quite scary, if I'm honest. It's not that I don't want to feel better, but my chronic illnesses have been such a huge part of <i>who I am</i>&nbsp;for so many years now that I feel frightened of change, even while I go through it. There are so many questions about what it could mean - and also what does it mean if the treatment doesn't work? It is enough to make me feel like I have my own little cyclone brewing in my brain.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Either way, I am doing my best. I am putting one foot in front of the other, and trying to make sense of the cyclone when I can. It can be hard-going, but I want to do the work.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Love to all who read.</span>Bethwynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11475065829110876067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2612859021318727206.post-7476032670618512282017-06-04T09:00:00.000+08:002017-06-04T09:00:17.544+08:00Book Review: How to Write Good by Ryan Higa<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TIgoI2HOV6I/WTJb8Qdxi7I/AAAAAAAADAU/vQAkD-1qKqEiTd96hb4eP6FsqgSidSB_QCLcB/s1600/32600912.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="409" data-original-width="318" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TIgoI2HOV6I/WTJb8Qdxi7I/AAAAAAAADAU/vQAkD-1qKqEiTd96hb4eP6FsqgSidSB_QCLcB/s320/32600912.jpg" width="248" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32600912-how-to-write-good" target="_blank">goodreads</a></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://www.bookdepository.com/Ryan-Higa-s-How-to-Write-Good/9781510201408?ref=ButterflyElephant" target="_blank">book depository</a></span></div><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Title:</b>&nbsp;How to Write Good</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Author:</b>&nbsp;Ryan Higa</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Publication Date:</b>&nbsp;May 30th 2017</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Synopsis:&nbsp;</b>"I know you're used to seeing me on the Internet, but here I am, coming at you in book form. You might be asking yourself, <i>A book? You? Why?</i></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">Great question! Why <i>did</i>&nbsp;I write a book?</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">Listen, I'm as surprised about it as you are.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">But I have a story to tell that I believe will help inspire people who are going through tough times. And I couldn't be the only YouTuber without a book, could I?</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">So, welcome to <i>Ryan Higa's How to Write Good</i>, by me, Ryan Higa.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">This is the story of how I went from being a relatively happy kid to being depressed and angry and filled with dark thoughts. This is also the story of how I found my way back to a happier life.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">But wait, there's <u>more</u>! You're not only getting my story - you'll also learn how to write good <i>well</i>, from a college dropout who struggled in basic-level English classes and still became a legit, published Best Sailing Author. (That isn't a typo. I plan to buy a boat one day ...but probably not anytime soon. This book might not cell good.)"</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>My thoughts:</b>&nbsp;This book is quite short, about 200 pages, and also has quite a few comic-style sections, so you can quite easily get through it in one or two sittings, if you'd like. It tells the story of Ryan Higa's middle school years, and how he dealt with bullying and what sounds a lot like depression (though I wouldn't recommend making diagnoses from a book). The tone is relatively light given the dark matter, as Higa comes across as someone who prefers to use humour as a way to cope with hard times, and also as a way to dispel tension.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">The comics work really well in this, and you can definitely hear Higa's voice coming through. I have watched his YouTube channel for quite a few years now, and you can definitely hear him telling you these things whilst reading. However, I'm not sure I really understand the format they used here - learning how to write well whilst hearing his particular story. It just doesn't seem to combine very well, and I found certain parts just kept jarring me out of the story.&nbsp;</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">Also, I feel like Higa's story - whilst one that I was definitely interested in and deserves to be told - wasn't really explored as much as it could have been. At the end of the book I was left a little confused, wondering about some things he had mentioned but never fully explored, and feeling a little like the first half of the book was almost like 'filler', before he actually got down to the crux of the story. I <i>want</i>&nbsp;to know about this story, but it was told in a way that felt a little choppy and not that descriptive.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">I liked the humour, and chuckled a little during reading, and the artwork in this is fantastic. Higa's personality shines through well, despite the choppiness of the plot, and I had a fairly nice time with this, all things considered. I think read it if you are a Higa fan.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">{I received a review copy of this book from Hachette in exchange for an honest review. Thanks!!}</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Rating: 6/10</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>If you'd like to keep up to date with what I'm reading, follow me on Goodreads&nbsp;<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/5803895-bethwyn">here</a>!</b></span>Bethwynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11475065829110876067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2612859021318727206.post-88343239409499686612017-06-03T14:46:00.001+08:002017-06-03T14:46:47.643+08:00Reading // May 2017<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Books read:</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">~ Behind the Throne (The Indranan War #1) by K. B. Wagers</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">~ Etched in Bone (The Others #5) by Anne Bishop</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">~ Badgerlands: The Twilight World of Britain's Most Enigmatic Animal by Patrick Barkham</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">~ The Forest for the Trees: An Editor's Advice to Writers by Betsy Lerner</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">~ Lumberjanes vol. 1: Beware the Kitten Holy by Noelle Stevenson</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">~ Lumberjanes vol. 2: Friendship to the Max by Noelle Stevenson</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">~ Lumberjanes vol. 3: A Terrible Plan by Noelle Stevenson</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">~ Lumberjanes vol. 4: Out of Time by Noelle Stevenson</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">~ Lumberjanes vol. 5: Band Together by Noelle Stevenson</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">~ Hidden Nature: A Voyage of Discovery by Alys Fowler (review)</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">~ Understory: A Life With Trees by Inga Simpson (review)<br />~ Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">~ How to Write Good by Ryan Higa (review)</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">~ Testosterone Rex: Myths of Sex, Science, and Society by Cordelia Fine</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Currently reading:</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">~ Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor (I have stalled badly on this one, guys. I don't know why, because it is beautifully written.)</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">~ Voyager (Outlander #3) by Diana Gabaldon</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">~ Beyond the Pale: Folklore, Family, and the Mystery of Our Hidden Genes by Emily Urquhart</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">~ The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate by Peter Wohlleben</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I read nine books this month, and five graphic novels. Pretty good, if I do say so myself!</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The weather is getting colder her in Australia as we head into Winter, and I am loving all the days with rain or just generally cold weather where I can get cozy on the couch with blankets, my cat, and my books. Unfortunately, quite a few of them have kind of been spent with me watching tv more, due to migraine symptoms and being unable to focus my eyes on printed words, but I still got quite a lot done and I am feeling kind of chuffed.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Out of the nine novels/books, seven were actually non-fiction, which fills me with happiness because I have been trying to read more non-fiction. In particular, I got back into nature writing this month, which was so wonderful - there is just something so relaxing about it for me. One that really deserves a mention there is <i>Understory</i>&nbsp;- I love that book so much.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I don't really want to go on for too long this time, so I will just say that I had a really good month for reading, despite some irritating symptoms, and I am already reading more for June. Oh, and I have already completed my Goodreads challenge of reading 52 books this year so... that's pretty awesome.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Huzzah for reading!</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Love to all who read. (See what I did there?)</span>Bethwynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11475065829110876067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2612859021318727206.post-22859680105748756652017-05-31T09:00:00.000+08:002017-05-31T09:00:03.295+08:00Book Review: Understory by Inga Simpson<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CD5YX39FYYk/WSVD3Hv1OdI/AAAAAAAAC6g/--XfHrum5iQCFyQL-WdnAkPWWIn1Pc5xgCLcB/s1600/34273900.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="320" data-original-width="210" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CD5YX39FYYk/WSVD3Hv1OdI/AAAAAAAAC6g/--XfHrum5iQCFyQL-WdnAkPWWIn1Pc5xgCLcB/s1600/34273900.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34273900-understory?from_search=true" target="_blank">goodreads</a></span></div><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Title:</b>&nbsp;Understory</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Author:</b>&nbsp;Inga Simpson</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Publication Date:</b>&nbsp;30th May 2017</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Synopsis:&nbsp;</b>"<i>'The understorey is where I live, alongside these plants and creatures. I tend the forest, stand at the foot of trees and look up, gather what has fallen.'</i></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">This is the story of a tree change, of escaping suburban Brisbane for a cottage on ten acres in search of a quiet life. Of establishing a writers retreat shortly before the Global Financial Crisis hit, and of losing just about everything when it did. It is also the story of what the author found there: the beauty of nature and her own path as a writer.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><i>Understory</i>&nbsp;is a memoir about staying in one place, told through trees, by the award-winning author of <i>Mr Wigg</i>, <i>Nest </i>and <i>Where the Trees Were</i>."</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>My thoughts:</b>&nbsp;Oh, I barely know what to say here. This book rushed right in to my heart and sprouted a little sapling there. Now that sapling is a full-blown tree and I seem to be unable to stop reading (also my heart has a tree in it, apparently).</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">Not only is Simpson's writing absolutely beautiful, it completely draws you in to life with trees - I often looked up what trees she was talking about so that I could picture it even more clearly whilst I read. I also had my guides to Australian birds open to do something similar. Simpson imbues her writing with the love of trees, and you often feel upset when she is about the needless destruction of nature. Simpson writes soulfully - this is the best word I can come up with - and talks about her life in general as well as her life specifically around certain trees.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">I really enjoyed how each chapter header was a different type of tree, or a different part of the tree or forest. You feel as if you are slowly being drawn closer, welcomed in to a circle of wisdom, of calm. Even though Simpson is talking about some truly stressful things at times, the way she writes about all of it feels so...calm. It all makes it a joy to read, and, honestly? After I had finished this book the first time, I really did flip back to the front to begin again. This book touches something within me that I find hard to describe (which, as you saw before, leads to trees growing in my heart), and I just want to hug it for that. I want to hug Inga Simpson for this book. More of this, please.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">[And can we just take a moment for this cover? In person it is even more delightful. Just beautiful.]</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">{I received a review copy of this book from Hachette in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!!!}</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>A favourite line from the book:</b>&nbsp;'The rose gums I see on rainforest walks are different creatures, massive columns with great ribbons of bark raining down and covering the forest floor around them, burls on their trunks big enough to make a home in. They have such presence it feels appropriate to bow down, but I am too busy looking up. I wish I could see what they have seen, how they know the world.'</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>You would like this book if:</b>&nbsp;you enjoy nature writing with a thread of memoir running through; you like trees as much as Bethwyn.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Tea to drink while reading this book:</b>&nbsp;in this case, it is not important what tea you drink, as long as you drink it whilst looking at trees.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Rating: 10/10</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>If you'd like to keep up to date with what I'm reading, follow me on Goodreads&nbsp;<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/5803895-bethwyn">here</a>!</b></span>Bethwynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11475065829110876067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2612859021318727206.post-60412568559304783982017-05-26T09:00:00.000+08:002017-05-26T09:00:25.337+08:00Book Review: Hidden Nature by Alys Fowler<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KgfLHBvafPU/WSEYmLU7-WI/AAAAAAAAC3Y/ceKsDtlrPDsc7cxwftyDWUQDIZoMOA5-gCLcB/s1600/29328188.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KgfLHBvafPU/WSEYmLU7-WI/AAAAAAAAC3Y/ceKsDtlrPDsc7cxwftyDWUQDIZoMOA5-gCLcB/s320/29328188.jpg" width="208" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29328188-hidden-nature" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: x-small;">goodreads</span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://www.bookdepository.com/Hidden-Nature-Alys-Fowler/9781473623002?ref=ButterflyElephant" target="_blank">book depository</a></span></div><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Title:</b>&nbsp;Hidden Nature: A Voyage of Discovery</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Author:</b>&nbsp;Alys Fowler</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Publication Date:</b>&nbsp;April 11th 2017</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Synopsis:&nbsp;</b>"<i>'The best maps are not published, are not accurate or even sensible, but are the maps we make ourselves about our cities, our kith and kin. These maps are made up of private details that allow us to navigate our past as much as our current terrain.'</i></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">Award winning <i>Guardian</i>&nbsp;columnist and gardening writer Alys Fowler set out in an inflatable kayak to explore one hundred miles of Birmingham's crumbling canal network. This book is about noticing the wild everywhere and what it means to see beauty where you least expect it. Above all <i>Hidden Nature</i>&nbsp;is about losing and finding, exploring familiar places and discovering unknown horizons."</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>My thoughts:</b>&nbsp;This book caught me by surprise. I was not too sure what I was reading, going in, but I was interested. Nature writing has appealed to me for quite a few years - when I first discovered it, I was overjoyed that something like this existed, a wonderful blend of exploring nature and observations by an author usually gifted with the ability to turn a phrase and make you feel like you were really there. Nature writing, even when aligned with memoir writing that could be intense and sad to read, was relaxing in the extreme for me.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">So, too, for <i>Hidden Nature</i>. Fowler's sudden interest and passion for the canals and kayaking around them hits you almost as soon as you open the book, and you are drawn in. She is descriptive about the things she sees, from birds to animals, and particularly plants (being a gardener herself). She also talks about people's reactions to her little inflatable kayak, and expeditions gone slightly wrong. When she gets down into the canals, she takes you very much with her.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">The entire book is written mostly surrounding a huge realisation and change during Fowler's life, and the kayaking becomes an escape for her as she tries to make sense of her life. Whilst quite a short book, she packs a lot in, and she doesn't shy away from putting down her true thoughts during the course of her change. Sometimes she feels truly lost, and you feel that alongside her.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">This book is calming and wonderful to read, and I really enjoyed it. The only reason I didn't give it a higher mark is because I, personally, am not that interested in most canals (I'm more of a tree-person) and I occasionally found the writing a little sharp and startling. Otherwise, I highly recommend it.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">{I received an unsolicited copy of this book from Hachette in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!!!}</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>A favourite line from the book:</b>&nbsp;'I garden because I am. I belong to the garden rather than the other way around. I pour myself, sometimes quite physically, into nature because it is how I make sense of myself and my place in this world. The gardener in me observes, the scientist orders those observations into patterns, then the writer makes notes. The scientist shakes her head at these and cries, 'Dreamer,' while the gardener gets on with the weeding. Once again, throwing myself into the detail of the world around me seemed to make the most sense.'</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>You would like this book if:</b>&nbsp;You enjoy nature writing with a side of memoir; you love descriptions of geese, canal-side plants, and the history of canals.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Tea to drink while reading this book:</b>&nbsp;Thistle tea, I think.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Rating: &nbsp;8/10</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>If you'd like to keep up to date with what I'm reading, follow me on Goodreads&nbsp;<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/5803895-bethwyn">here</a>!</b></span>Bethwynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11475065829110876067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2612859021318727206.post-32008321685646558552017-05-22T16:12:00.000+08:002017-05-22T16:12:22.062+08:00New Vlog and Society6 Explorations~<span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">Hi all!</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">For those that have followed this blog for a loooong time, you will know that I used to have a youtube (or booktube) channel. Very recently, I filmed a few bits of footage and decided to stitch them together for a vlog! It was an interesting process, and actually quite fun overall, and I have started working on another vlog already. Please check it out if you have some time!</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/CpL48cCx4lE" width="560"></iframe><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Also, I have been exploring areas to share my photography and artwork, and decided to try out Society6 for a little while. Please take a look at <a href="https://society6.com/bethiibee" target="_blank">my page</a> if you can, too :)</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I will try and keep updating when I have things to update, but that's it for now!</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Love to all who read!</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>Bethwynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11475065829110876067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2612859021318727206.post-58047611901612698592017-05-17T11:46:00.000+08:002017-05-17T11:46:03.199+08:00Book Reviews: River Cottage: Easy, and River Cottage: Light and Easy by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-u0cX3N9oqoo/WRu8Ukj3FDI/AAAAAAAAC2Y/p7BH5jiE9ag_5uSXRYucELn-W44oiJJMwCLcB/s1600/33826398.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-u0cX3N9oqoo/WRu8Ukj3FDI/AAAAAAAAC2Y/p7BH5jiE9ag_5uSXRYucELn-W44oiJJMwCLcB/s320/33826398.jpg" width="248" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33826398-river-cottage-easy?from_search=true" target="_blank">goodreads</a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://www.bookdepository.com/River-Cottage-Easy-Hugh-Fearnley-Whittingstall/9781408888490?ref=ButterflyElephant" target="_blank">book depository</a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WyeTAvjxMbY/WRu8_NfdU7I/AAAAAAAAC2g/3MAlqi0A73kmjnx-PGAVBvNNFiCrQaslwCLcB/s1600/9781408888476.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WyeTAvjxMbY/WRu8_NfdU7I/AAAAAAAAC2g/3MAlqi0A73kmjnx-PGAVBvNNFiCrQaslwCLcB/s320/9781408888476.jpg" width="241" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://www.bookdepository.com/River-Cottage-Light--Easy-Hugh-Fearnley-Whittingstall/9781408888476?ref=ButterflyElephant" target="_blank">book depository</a></span></div><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Title:</b>&nbsp;River Cottage: Easy, and River Cottage: Light and Easy</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Author:</b>&nbsp;Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Publication Date:</b>&nbsp;Both re-issued May 2017</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Synopsis:&nbsp;</b><i><b>River Cottage: Easy</b></i> - "How often have you wished there was a magic formula to make cooking easier? Well, there is. Put just three food things together on a plate and, somehow, the whole is always greater and more delicious than the sum of its parts. Looking back over nearly two decades of professional cookery, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has worked out the winning combinations. Salty, sweet, crunchy. Sharp, rich, crumbly. Hot, bland, crisp. Think scones with jam and cream, fish and chips with mushy peas, or porridge with golden syrup and cream.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">Hugh has used this simple formula to create more than 175 inspiring recipes, both well-loved classics and brand new ides, based on trios like squash, ricotta and ham; aubergine, tomatoes and chickpeas; clams, tomatoes and garlic; chicken, tomatoes and tarragon; pork, potatoes and apples; pasta, courgettes and mozzarella; strawberries, cream and shortbread; and chocolate, ginger and digestives... The list goes on.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">With sumptuous photography from Simon Wheeler, this book will unlock a whole new world of fantastic food. Easy cooking with three delicious ingredients. It really is that simple."</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><i><b>River Cottage: Light and Easy</b></i> - "Ever lack the time or inspiration to cook a nourishing meal after a hectic day? Delicious, health-giving food doesn't have to be time-consuming and complicated.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">In <i>River Cottage: Light and Easy</i>&nbsp;Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall delivers wholesome delights with zero compromise on taste for all occasions - from brilliant breakfasts to goodness on the go, from crunchy salads to simple roasts and hotpots, from nutrient-packed fish dishes to lighter breads, baking and treats (we all need those!). Each recipe is dairy-free and wheat-free, and all are guaranteed to bring a fresh energy and vitality to your everyday cooking and eating.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">The 170 flavour-hitting recipes include: pumpkin seed drop scones, savoury buckwheat galettes, wheat-free spinachy wraps, rye grissini, fragrant Asian broth, speedy fish and tomato curry, fish-rizo with broad beans, spiced beef with bashed beans, aromatic nutty chicken, easiest ever storecupboard fishcakes, lamb and cashew curry. smashed roast Jerusalem artichokes, beetroot burgers, peach and orange sorbet, chocolate and avocado mousse, chestnut marmalade muffins and life-loving brownies...</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">With striking photography from Simon Wheeler, this beautiful book provides solutions to creating the most nourishing and healthy of meals as quickly and easily as possible."</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>My thoughts:</b>&nbsp;I decided to review these two together because they complement each other really well, and plus cookbooks can be quite expensive and maybe, this way, you can get an idea for which one you would prefer!</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">Both of these are re-issued cookbooks of earlier releases. <i>Easy</i>&nbsp;was originally published in 2012 under the title <i>Hugh's Three Good Things</i>, whilst <i>Light and Easy</i>&nbsp;was published in 2014 under a similar name. Now that I have informed you of those facts, on with the reviews!</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">I have actually had some experience with <i>Easy</i>&nbsp;before, under its old name, as this is one of the cookbooks that my parents own, so I have made a couple of things out of there. I am a fan of River Cottage - the place, the people, the tv series, the books... I love all of them. Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall is quite a character, and whilst others may groan at his use of puns and wacky names for food, I tend to laugh. As is implied in the synopsis and in its old title, <i>Easy</i>&nbsp;centres around the idea that you can make lovely food out of just three ingredients. A lot of the recipes have meat in them (my husband is vegan so I tend to notice this sort of stuff), but there are also a lot of lovely recipes without meat, focusing more on fruit and veg. It is clear that Hugh has done his research and taste-testings to full effectiveness - the flavour combinations he uses in this book work so well and the recipes are generally short without sacrificing any flavour.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><i>Light and Easy</i>&nbsp;I hadn't encountered before, and so this was a lovely education for me. I liked that this one has a focus on removing wheat and dairy, and still having really lovely foods. I have recently discovered that my reactions to wheat/gluten are not imagined (I had some tests done and an allergy has been officially found) and, while many of these recipes still use gluten, there are a lot that don't and substitute things like buckwheat which I can eat. Like <i>Easy</i>, the recipes are quite short and use ingredients that are familiar and easy to obtain, and they make me excited to start cooking. Some of the sweets in particular already have me salivating.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">The new covers for these books are absolutely gorgeous - simple (like the recipes within), yet charming. The photography throughout is stunning, and I am quite taken with the little illustrations that accompany the recipes. All-in-all, these books have been delightfully re-packaged, and they are a wonderful addition to my collection.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">{I received review copies of these books from Bloomsbury in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!!!}</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>A favourite recipe from the book: </b><i>Easy</i>: Potato, Mushrooms, Curry. <i>Light and Easy</i>: Strawberry Cashew Ice Cream.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>You would like this book if:</b>&nbsp;You like anything River Cottage, like me; you enjoy simple recipes with few ingredients, but no skimping on flavour!</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Rating: &nbsp;8/10</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>If you'd like to keep up to date with what I'm reading, follow me on Goodreads&nbsp;<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/5803895-bethwyn">here</a>!</b></span>Bethwynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11475065829110876067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2612859021318727206.post-67270549700713350882017-05-10T10:14:00.001+08:002017-05-10T10:14:41.966+08:00Book Review: The Little Breton Bistro by Anne George<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-v_4tzkLl5Mo/WRJzpKcjS1I/AAAAAAAACyg/lJIeah0TCk8kcYCou5UmOPV3SdS9aKDEQCLcB/s1600/34143553.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-v_4tzkLl5Mo/WRJzpKcjS1I/AAAAAAAACyg/lJIeah0TCk8kcYCou5UmOPV3SdS9aKDEQCLcB/s320/34143553.jpg" width="204" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34143553-the-little-breton-bistro" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">goodreads</span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.bookdepository.com/The-Little-Breton-Bistro-Nin-George/9780349142227?ref=ButterflyElephant" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">book depository</span></a></div><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Title:</b>&nbsp;The Little Breton Bistro</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Author:</b>&nbsp;Nina George</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Publication Date:</b>&nbsp;March 2017</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Synopsis:&nbsp;</b>"Marianne Messman longs to escape her loveless marriage to an uncaring husband - an artillery sergeant major named Lothar. On a day trip to Paris, Marianne decides to leap off the Pont Neuf into the Seine, but she is saved from drowning by a homeless man. While recovering in hospital, Marianne comes across a painting of the tiny port town of Kerdruc in Brittany and decides to try her luck on the coast.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">In Kerdruc, Marianne meets a host of colourful characters who all gravitate around the restaurant of Ar Mor (The Sea). It is this cast of true Bretons who become Marianne's new family, and among whom she will find love once again. But with her husband looking to pull her back to her old life, Marianne is left with a choice: to step back into the known, or to take a huge jump into an exciting and unpredictable future.</span><span style="font-family: georgia, &quot;times new roman&quot;, serif;">"</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>My thoughts:</b>&nbsp;I'm not sure why, but at the start of this year I went through a bit of a reading slump. I was reading quite a few books at the time, stopping and starting things regularly, but I just couldn't settle to anything and I found I was getting little enjoyment out of anything. This is when my mum pressed a copy of The Little Paris Bookshop (George's first book) into my hands. I was sceptical at first, but the characters quickly won me over and I found myself thinking about the book even when I wasn't reading it.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">My reading of The Little Breton Bistro was very similar to that experience. Though I will say that I probably enjoyed this one even more, as I found I related to the characters, particularly Marianne, even more. (I am not, by any means, in a loveless marriage, but things that Marianne thinks about later in the book pulled on a thread inside me.)</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">George seems to have this fantastic ability to write really wonderful characters that you want to know more about - she also writes pain, and the vast measures needed to be taken to move away from that pain, superbly. This is a book of deep feeling, and I can't help wanting to pick it back up and read it again (in fact, I had that impulse immediately upon finishing it) just because I am thinking about it. George's writing is so beautiful and a wonder to read, and just ever-so-slightly on the edge of magical realism at times, that you feel as if you are being drawn into a different world.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">I have a feeling that if I keep trying to write about this book I am just going to regress into childish gushing of noises rather than words. Basically, please give George's work a go. I hope it strikes a chord within you, too.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">[I received a review copy of this book from Hachette in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!!!]</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>A favourite line from the book:</b>&nbsp;'When she glanced up, her eyes met a smiling face. This woman could bounce back from failure, that much was clear; her big bright eyes sparkled. Their gazes met, and Marianne snapped her eyelids shut again. She couldn't understand why the woman was staring at her like this. But she also wanted to store it away in her memory - the faint glimmer in her eye, the mauve cheeks, the sun playing in her hair.'</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>You would like this book if:</b>&nbsp;you enjoy gentle stories with deep feelings.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Tea to drink while reading this book:</b>&nbsp;I am honestly not sure. I feel like the descriptions of food in parts of this book might make you hungry, so maybe have a meal whilst reading!</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Rating: &nbsp;10/10</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>If you'd like to keep up to date with what I'm reading, follow me on Goodreads&nbsp;<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/5803895-bethwyn">here</a>!</b></span>Bethwynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11475065829110876067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2612859021318727206.post-15174613022716681512017-05-05T09:00:00.000+08:002017-05-05T09:00:22.961+08:00Book Review: Memoirs of a Polar Bear by Yoko Tawada<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hCCC5HED3co/WPQ7jhMsivI/AAAAAAAABio/BB2-KfFK5YQBFa-lVheX4RXI4_sGFjKPwCLcB/s1600/33311760.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hCCC5HED3co/WPQ7jhMsivI/AAAAAAAABio/BB2-KfFK5YQBFa-lVheX4RXI4_sGFjKPwCLcB/s320/33311760.jpg" width="208" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33311760-memoirs-of-a-polar-bear" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: x-small;">goodreads</span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.bookdepository.com/Memoirs-of-a-Polar-Bear/9781846276316?ref=ButterflyElephant" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: x-small;">book depository</span></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Title:</b>&nbsp;Memoirs of a Polar Bear</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Author:</b>&nbsp;Yoko Tawada</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Translated by</b>: Susan Bernofsky</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Publication Date:</b>&nbsp;March 29th 2017</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>RRP:</b>&nbsp;$27.99AUD</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Synopsis:&nbsp;</b>"</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">Someone tickled me behind my ears, under my arms. I curled up, became a full moon, and rolled on the floor. I may also have emitted a few hoarse shrieks. Then I lifted my rump to the sky and tucked my head beneath my belly: Now I was a sickle moon, still too young to imagine any danger. Innocent, I opened my anus to the cosmos and felt it in my bowels.&nbsp;</span></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">A bear, born and raised in captivity, is devastated by the loss of his keeper; another finds herself performing in the circus; a third sits down one day and pens a memoir which becomes an international sensation, and causes her to flee her home. Through the stories of these three bears, Tawada reflects on our own humanity, the ways in which we belong to one another and the ways in which we are formed. Delicate and surreal, Memoirs of a Polar Bear takes the reader into foreign bodies and foreign climes, and immerses us in what the New Yorker has called 'Yoko Tawada's magnificent strangeness'.</span></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">"</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>My thoughts:</b>&nbsp;This is going to be odd, because I don't normally review books that I have DNF'd. But I want to get my thoughts out on this one, and also note that there is a chance I will return to it at a later date and have a better time with it - who knows.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">This book is strong on magical realism. Polar bears walk, seem to talk in some instances, and even write. I had a feeling that Tawada was using the polar bears to make a point, but for whatever reason it was just going straight over my head. I spent much of the book thinking that I just wasn't getting what she was trying to say, and that became frustrating.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">When I read magical realism, I find myself enjoying the whimsical nature which can sometimes come crashing back to reality in sudden moments. With this book I just couldn't follow what was happening too well, particularly when I moved into the second section, and my enjoyment of the book kind of diminished when I started to feel like reading this was no longer a joy, but a chore. Occasionally the writing was so beautiful that I would stop and re-read a section a couple of times, but most other times the sentences were short, fragmented, harsh, without beauty and, for me, without sense.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">I don't know if other people will have better experiences of this, or if I will return to it someday, but for now I am going to leave it scoreless.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">[I received a review copy of this book from Allen &amp; Unwin in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!]</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Rating: &nbsp;n/a</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>If you'd like to keep up to date with what I'm reading, follow me on Goodreads&nbsp;<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/5803895-bethwyn">here</a>!</b></span>Bethwynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11475065829110876067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2612859021318727206.post-40089129363363542022017-05-04T09:00:00.000+08:002017-05-04T09:00:07.443+08:00Cat-astrophic.<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This is actually a really difficult post for me to write, despite my love of the pun in the title. It will hopefully go some of the way to explaining why I have been absent for a couple of weeks. I am going to try and do this short and sweet, and not ramble too much, because otherwise that might just lead into my own neuroses and that's just no fun for anyone.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">At the end of last year, Xin and I started talking and we decided to get another cat. We do want a dog eventually, but we agreed that another cat made so much more sense - they could be a companion for Pepper when we were both out, and we already had all the cat stuff so we would mostly be paying the adoption fees and that was about it. So, on January 1st we made an appointment to go to a rescue centre and look at the cats they had on offer. We were looking particularly for a male cat, as we already had Pepper (a female) and had heard that males were generally more affectionate and pairs of separate genders were more likely to bond well.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We met a quiet, curled up kitty - a ginger/white shorthair who was getting picked on by another male cat and so had kind of retreated. I was still a little unsure, and I wanted Xin to pick this time since Pepper was mostly my cat. Xin fell in love. He always had a thing for the underdog (or undercat) and so, after heading home and talking it over, bringing a small towel with the newcat's scent on it to see how Pepper would react (she seemed fine, mostly indifferent), we headed back later that day and brought him home with us.&nbsp;</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We named him Kohaku Furamir (Haku for short) and he quickly came out of his shell, and he loved to cuddle and talk to you. He talked <i>a lot. </i>&nbsp;So much that it became a bit frustrating sometimes. We set him up in the laundry so he could have his own room, and he seemed happy in there, if a bit bored at times.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But we had a problem. Although we followed all the instructions for a gentle introduction, Pepper and Haku didn't get on. Pepper would hiss and make herself really small around him, and he, seemingly wanting to play, would leap at her. These little incidents started to get worse and worse, until Haku managed to rip Pepper's collar off. "Perhaps we introduced them too fast?" we thought, so we went back to the start, keeping them separated and trying all sorts of things to get them used to each other, perhaps even to like each other.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But any chance Haku got, he would run at Pepper and leap on her. In the first few weeks of April we watched as Pepper began to retreat from us, from everything, and it was heart-breaking. We were still spending time with both cats, just individually, and seeing Pepper curl up in the tightest ball she could on the far side of the bed, away from the door, behind my soft toys and pillows so she couldn't be seen from the doorway... it was awful. Haku was lovely when he was just with us - social and funny and cute, and he was beginning to be comfortable with sleeping in our laps and he already sought us out for pats and loved going out on the lead and harness to sit in the garden. He was the perfect cat (if a bit chatty). He was just making our other cat's life a living hell.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">At the end of April we made a decision. We had tried for four months, and things weren't getting better. In fact, Pepper wouldn't even engage with us if we were trying to introduce them through a crack in the door anymore. She wouldn't come anywhere near. We have had Pepper for a year and a half now, and even though she is neurotic, she has warmed up to us (to me in particular) so much that we felt we owed more to her than to Haku. And, ultimately, no one was happy in this situation. Most of the time Haku was confined to his room - it was no way for an energetic cat like him to live.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We decided to take Haku back to the rescue centre.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It has been a few days now since we took him back and I am still grieving, honestly. I still cry, and seeing him listed on the website today was pretty hard. But this is giving him a chance to find a family where he can access the whole house whenever he wants, and be loved. I miss him a lot, and this whole experience has made me realise how quickly I get attached and how much I consider pets as part of my family - this feels like the right decision, but it also feels so awfully wrong. We tried so hard, but ultimately sometimes cats just don't get on.&nbsp;</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I am feeling so drained by the whole experience, and still crying regularly, but eventually I will adjust, I think. Sometimes we have to make really hard decisions.</span>Bethwynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11475065829110876067noreply@blogger.com0
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