The Book of Summer

Often on long road trips particularly at night I've driven past houses and wondered what stories are contained within each of their respective four walls. Sounds a bit weird but every house has its stories to tell.

In this gripping story The Book of Summer by American author Michelle Gable there are certainly a lot of tales to tell.

This book centres around the almost 100-year-old homestead Cliff House perched on a cliff on the island of Nantucket and its guest book aka The Book of Summer. The cliff is eroding and soon Cliff House will be no longer but its owner Cissy Codman is not letting her home and its history go without a fight. Her daughter Bess returns home to try to convince her mother that she must leave before she ends up going with the house.

The book flicks between the 1940s pre and post World War II and the present day and also contains many entries in The Book of Summer.  Features of this book include a myriad of characters, many stories, and brilliant storytelling. If you enjoyed the Australian television series A Place To Call Home chances are you will enjoy this book.

Now I'm off to read a book which doesn't contain the word Summer in its title, given that the last three books I've read have.    

Sixty Summers

Three friends, who are all turning 60, relive their 20s by going on a road trip across parts of Europe. What could possibly go wrong? 

In the past a book like this wouldn't have grabbed my attention but this one did. Apart from the odd frustrating storyline Sixty Summers by New Zealand-born writer Amanda Hampson was a thoroughly good read. 

Reading it made me think of a friend who recently travelled various parts of the world with another friend to celebrate a big birthday. They had a T-shirt made listing the countries on the back to be ticked off as they visited them. They also had a cap emblazoned with" Kiwi Chicks on Tiki-Tour 2019". Such a creative idea and I loved seeing all the photographs she posted along the way. 

Back to the book Maggie, Fran and Rose met when they were young. Maggie and Rose live in Australia and Fran lives in the UK. They catch up with each other regularly with Fran connecting via technology. In their 20s they backpacked through Europe. Life has taken interesting turns for the trio since then with family, business and bookshop commitments. 

Forty years have passed and realising they need a break away the trio meet up in Europe to retrace the journey they took in 1978. Rose has planned the trip. They stay in more upmarket accommodation than their earlier journey and eat out but the trip is not really working. That is until Maggie spontaneously buys a clapped out van and they continue on their way.

It wasn't until I was two thirds of the way through the book that I researched the author and found out that Hampson was born in Wellington, New Zealand and now lives in Australia. 

A great story that kept my attention to the end. Four out of five stars.  

  

Summer of '69

I'm not a huge fan of historical fiction but I do enjoy books that are set around the time I was born or just a few years before like this book.

The author of Summer of '69 Elin Hilderbrand has written 23 books in her 50 years of life and this book is her latest. I was struggling to find a book to read and this book on our new release stand at the library where I work caught my eye.

Hilderbrand writes in an author's note at the end of the book that she wrote this book after her twin brother Eric suggested she should. She dedicates the book to him. Elin and Eric were born in 1969 the day after the first man landed on the moon.

This book centres around the Levin family Kate and David and children - Blair whose married and pregnant with twins, younger sisters Kirby and Jessie and their brother Tiger who is serving in the Vietnam War. There's also their grandmother Exalta who has her own way of doing things.

Kirby is single and trying to make her own way in life while Jessie has just reached her teenage years and all that comes with being a 13-year-old in that era.

The book is mainly set on two islands in the United States - Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard. There are references to the Kennedy family, the first moon landing, President Nixon, the Vietnam War, racial inequalities and the Woodstock music festival.

This is the first book by Hilderbrand that I've read and it won't be the last. I loved her writing style.

Four out of five stars for this great piece of fiction.

The Flatshare

Tiffy and Leon share a bed. Tiffy and Leon have never met. 

I was in two minds about whether to review this book The Flatshare but I thought I would because I enjoyed the writing style of British author Beth O'Leary.

Struggling to find something to read, I saw this book and it had some appeal. I don't know why because I could sense it was chick-lit (a genre I'm not a huge fan of) and it is but there's a lot more to this book.

Leon advertises for a flatmate - to help make some extra money to pay the costs of the appeal for his wrongfully imprisoned brother. 

Tiffy needs somewhere to live after finally making a break from her ex-boyfriend. She moves into Leon's home except she doesn't meet Leon. He works nights and is away from home at the weekend. Tiffy works days and is home at the weekend. They share the same bed but obviously not at the same time. They start leaving notes for each other and soon the flat is full of post-it notes. Books on crochet, modelling crochet pieces, Hospice care and promoting books are among some of the other subject matter within the book.

I gobbled up about two thirds of this book and then it started to get too much into the realms of chick-lit and a bit too much romance for my liking. 

But I kept on. It is a light, quirky and funny read and to think O'Leary managed to write the first draft of the book during her daily train commute to and from work. 

Three stars from me.

55, Underemployed, and Faking Normal

American author Elizabeth White had it all - advanced degrees from Harvard and Johns Hopkins University, an outstanding employment history and she'd started a business.

But the business failed and in her mid 50s White struggled to re-enter the workforce. She decided to write about her experience in an essay entitled "You Know Her''. The essay was posted on a Facebook page and within three days attracted 11,000 likes and over 1000 comments by many sharing similar experiences.

People wrote to her about their experiences too, many of which feature in this book 55, Underemployed and Faking Normal.

The book talks about the retirement schemes in the United States but it also shares a lot of tips about how to downsize, how to make the most of what you have and to make sacrifices so you can have the things that matter most. It talks a lot about the importance of not harking back to what you had or trying to impress others but to be content with how life is now.

White emphasizes the importance of forming friendships with others in the same boat and meeting regularly to look at ways to help each other in the latter years of working life when it can be tough to find work. The book lists a number of websites baby boomers can use to help them find work.

She talks about a woman she met called Zoe who was 62 and had $31 to her name. Zoe had never been so happy or grounded. She paid money to keep her possessions in a storage unit and after a year she couldn't remember what was in the unit and sold or gave all her possessions away. There are many powerful stories in this book about people like Zoe who have learnt to be happy with much less.

Couldn't put this book down. A great read!

My Smoko Break

What do you do when you realise you should cut back on sugar before all your teeth fall out? Me - I make a batch of muffins of the banana and chocolate chip variety.

I work in a public library and I was shelving some books a few weeks back in our extensive recipe book collection and this book My Smoko Break by Hayley Maudsley caught my eye.

This book brings together more than 200 of Hayley's recipes. Hayley has a Facebook page called My Smoko Break which has more than 120,000 followers. Flicking through her book what drew me in was her stories about life as a mum living in rural Queensland, Australia which are scattered through the book in between her recipes.

Most times it's the photographs of the dishes of food that make me pick up a recipe book but there are no pictures or images in this book and I reckon it works. There's a lot of colour in Hayley's storytelling, her handy tips and tricks as well as her recipes. The book features recipes for breakfast, lunch and dinner as well as smoko, dessert, special occasions and cooking with kids.

I have a stack of recipe books at home and MasterChef Australia is my absolute favourite TV show. I'm often asked by my nearest and dearest why I don't use those recipe books more, why I can't cook like the contestants on said cooking show or like my sisters who are both amazing cooks. My answer is four-fold 1) There are too many ingredients, 2) The dishes look too difficult 3) They take too long to prepare and 4) Fear it won't turn out right.

The recipes in My Smoko Break look relatively easy and I tested one by making a batch of banana and chocolate chip muffins. Easy as! Delicious too! I think I'm going to try the Chicken Curry in the Slow Cooker recipe next!

The Boy Without Love.... And the Farm That Saved Him

Have you ever been reading a book and part of you thinks I just can't read this anymore but the other half of you thinks I really need to read this book?

I have just finished reading The Boy Without Love.... And The Farm That Saved Him and talk about a confronting read.

I stumbled across English author Simon Dawson's books Pigs in Clover and Sty's The Limit a couple of years ago in the library I work at. I wasn't working at the library then but the covers of the books and the synopsis on each made me want to read them. Those two books talk of his and wife Debbie's life moving from the city to become self sufficient on a smallholding aka lifestyle block in North Devon. He has pigs and sheep, two great Danes, a hilarious friend called Ziggy and is good at drinking wine and cooking delicious food. I absolutely LOVED both books. I love his writing style and laughed a lot reading them so I couldn't wait for this book's release. As soon as it was available, I bought it online.

I was hoping for another humourous book but this third book is not funny. To be honest it's one of the saddest books I've read. It's a book about Dawson's childhood, the rejection he felt by a mother who told him she didn't love him and the abuse he suffered. I cried several times reading this book. I almost couldn't finish it but I kept being pulled back to read it.

Although it's hard to read, there are lighter chapters in which he talks about life on his farm too and how his wife and beautiful pets and animals have, as the book title suggests, saved him.

It takes a very brave person to get their thoughts down in such a clear and readable way as Dawson has done in this book.

Definitely four out of five stars for this moving read.

FOOTNOTE: This book does come with a warning from Dawson of some rather graphic language.

Granny McFlitter - A Country Yarn

Granny McFlitter is back! And she is more adorable than ever, knitting, knitting and knitting some more. Nothing is going to stop her knitting - not even a rather large bull.

I loved the first Granny McFlitter book Granny McFlitter The Champion Knitter. Now New Zealand author Heather Haylock and illustrator Lael Chisholm have joined forces for this second instalment Granny McFlitter A Country Yarn.

In this book Granny McFlitter is showing off her knitted vegetables at the A&P Show. To those outside of New Zealand reading this an A&P Show is an agricultural show. Granny McFlitter is sitting back enjoying a pot of tea when a bull escapes. Granny McFlitter comes to the rescue with her knitting skills but there is a little bit more to this story.

Some of the items Granny McFlitter knits are amazing. Have you ever seen a knitted pavlova, lamington, fudge or even a gate.

The illustrations in this book are again absolutely delightful and it is hard to believe that the illustrator is only in her early 20s.

I just love the poetic writing style of the author, who is a teacher aide in a primary school.

If you haven't met Granny McFlitter yet, you need to - she's adorable. Looking forward to reading more of her knitting adventures in the future. 

What You Wish For

Praise again for Catherine Robertson. She'd have to be one of my favourite New Zealand fiction writers and she has done it again with this fantastic book.

What You Wish For follows on from her book Gabriel's Bay and features many of the same characters with a few new and rather eccentric ones including a recluse who plays Scrabble and doesn't have much of a wardrobe, added into the mix.There are a lot of characters but I loved how Robertson listed all of the characters and gave a brief description of each at the start of this book. While the first Gabriel's Bay book featured a dog, this one features a moose - an animal you wouldn't normally see in New Zealand.  

This book is again set in the fictitious New Zealand town of Gabriel's Bay. There are several story lines moving throughout the book with each chapter written through the eyes of a different character - a style similar to the first book - a style I really like.

I don't want to give too many of the details or the storylines of the book away but I could really relate to the character Patricia - a woman who couldn't have children but then offers respite care for a boy who she forms a bond with and to whom she finds it very difficult to say goodbye. Hats off to anyone who offers respite care or fosters children. I don't think I could do it.

I bought this book within days of its release early in January as I couldn't wait to read it. In some ways I think I enjoyed this book more than the first. Hopeful for a third instalment of life in Gabriel's Bay.

  

Bookish Resolutions - 2019

It's a new year and with that comes new goals and resolutions. I don't have a huge number of personal ones except for maybe buy a new car to replace my 1997 Toyota Corolla which has seen better days, do a bit of work on our house (that's more my husband's domain - he's way more practical than me. My painting skills leave a lot to be desired too),  celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary, work my way towards completing my studies and enjoy life.

But here's seven bookish resolutions I've set for myself for 2019!

1. SET a reading challenge on one of my favourite websites Goodreads but don't bust a gut to achieve it. It's good to read for enjoyment's sake not for reaching a goal's sake. I've set the number of books I want to read this year quite low. Some have set a goal of reading 100 books or 200 books or even 50 books and some achieve that. I know I won't. It's good to have a record of what you read but it doesn't really matter at the end of the day if you achieve the goal of reading a certain number of books each year. Does it?
2. BE more selective about the books I buy! Hello I work in a public library and have access to thousands of books, most of which are free. Last year I bought a number of books I thought I wanted to read and when I sat down to read them, they weren't that good and I ended up donating them to charity.
3. WAIT until I find some really good books to spend book vouchers I received for my birthday and Christmas on rather than spending them on something I will end up not reading.
4. TRY reading different genres. I say that but it probably won't happen as there are particular genres I like. Fantasy, crime, young adult and graphic novels aren't those for me and that's okay.
5. READ an Ebook, try an audiobook and read more children's books. Have you seen the amazing array of books out there for kids and they are gorgeous. Personally, I'm looking forward to reading more of the adventures of Granny McFlitter the Champion Knitter.
6. MAKE a bit more time for reading - eek I already probably spend too much time reading.
7. MOST IMPORTANT - have fun reading and if I don't like a book put it down and find something else! Life's too short to read books you don't enjoy!  

Happy reading in 2019 everyone!

Becoming

Let me start off by saying I don't follow American politics. I live on the other side of the world for starters and I'm not a Barack Obama supporter, Donald Trump supporter nor a fan of Hillary Clinton.

However, after watching an interesting documentary about Michelle Obama which coincided with the release of her book Becoming, I really wanted to read it.

The book is split into three parts - before she met Barack Obama, when she met Barack and then life in the White House as the First Lady. The book only dwells on politics in small doses. It's more about Michelle Obama's own story growing up in Chicago, her relationship with her parents and older brother, some of the losses she experienced as a young woman, studying at Harvard, becoming a lawyer and meeting Barack. The book covers her life as wife to Barack and mother to their two children Malia and Sasha before combining that with being the First Lady.

The book delves into her thoughts and feelings dealing with the pros and cons of being married to the president, how she viewed life in the White House, the intense security, the programs she got involved in and her own emotions dealing with tragedies such as the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting and other shootings, visiting seriously injured soldiers, meeting Nelson Mandela and spending time with the Queen.  

One part of this book which stood out to me was when Michelle Obama visited a wounded soldier at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and was greeted by the following message on the door of his room.

"ATTENTION TO ALL THOSE WHO ENTER HERE:

If you are coming into this room with sorrow or to feel sorry for my wounds, go elsewhere. The wounds I received, I got in a job I love, doing it for people I love, supporting the freedom of a country I deeply love. I am incredibly tough and will make a full recovery.''

The book is long but it kept me interested to the end - an ending in which Michelle Obama reveals her own plans for life after the White House.

Highly recommended reading!