Granny McFlitter The Champion Knitter

I was captivated by this book after seeing a photo on Facebook of the most delightful cake made for the book launch.

Granny McFlitter The Champion Knitter tells the story of Granny McFlitter who loves to knit. Knitting is her passion and it's a passion that is starting to annoy those around her but good on her she doesn't care. She keeps on knitting.

One day she is watching the news on her knitted TV and she sees a story about a ship running aground and spilling oil into the sea. Sound familiar? In 2011, a container ship called the MV Rena hit the Astrolabe Reef off the coast of Tauranga in New Zealand. The oil spill has been described as New Zealand's worst maritime environmental disaster.

In this story by New Zealand author Heather Haylock Granny McFlitter sets to work knitting jumpers for all the penguins who were left covered in oil. Once the oil was washed off the penguins were left shivering and so Granny McFlitter's jumpers were a warm relief.

This is a delightful book centred around the theme of putting your passions to good use. Talking about passion it's obvious the New Zealand illustrator of this book Lael Chisholm has an immense passion for art and design. I just loved the pictures throughout this book. It's hard to believe Lael was only 20 when this book was released earlier this year. She won The Storylines Gavin Bishop Award for her beautiful illustrations in this book.

The book was also a finalist in the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults.

Book Towns

I work part-time in a public library and several weeks ago I was standing waiting to help a customer and out of the corner of my eye I saw this book's cover flash up on our website as a new book on offer in the library. I couldn't wait until the end of my shift to go and find the book.

As soon as I opened it I knew I was going to love it! It is a fantastic book - the best work of non fiction I've read for quite a while.

Think Lonely Planet meets a world full of books and you have this gem. I loved the book so much I went and bought my own copy. This book by Alex Johnson explores 45 Book Towns.

So what is a Book Town? Simply put by Johnson, it is a "small town, usually rural and scenic, full of bookshops and book-related industries".

These are small towns that I would love to visit one day. It even includes the town of Featherston in New Zealand - the country where I live.

Another place the book features is Wigtown in Scotland which boasts a range of bookstores, hosts books festivals and even has a bed and breakfast/second-hand bookstore where people can stay in exchange for running the store.

There is Bowral in Australia which was once home to a famous resident by the name of PL Travers who created the character of Mary Poppins.

As well as a write-up on each book town, there are photos and website addresses for more details.   

A few of the other book towns highlighted in the book include Bredevoort in the Netherlands, Borby in Sweden, Bellprat in Spain, Gold Cities in California, Tvedestrand in Norway and Hay-on-Wye in Wales - the birthplace of book towns.

Now that I have this beautiful travel guide of book towns, all I have to do is convince my husband to let me travel to visit all/some of them.

The Library at the Edge of the World

I gravitate towards any book that has library or bookshop in the title so when I saw this book in the library I work at, I was immediately interested.

This book has taken longer than normal to read. Life has been busy with work and study and I didn't really feel like being in a rush with this book. It was quite slow-moving but I think that's what appealed.

The Library at the Edge of the World by Felicity Hayes-McCoy tells the story of librarian Hanna Casey. She works at the Lissberg Library in the fictitious village of Finfarran in Ireland. Conor, a young lad, is the only other worker at the library. The library also has a mobile library which Casey drives along the Finfarran Peninsula and visits various communities. I love the parts set in the library and the mobile library and the characters that they both attract.

Casey, whose daughter has grown up and left home, now lives with her mother but wants to move out and renovate an old run-down bungalow left to her by a great aunt. Meanwhile, all is not as it seems for little Lissberg Library and the community comes together to help ensure its future.

I enjoyed the characters and how the different relationships and tensions within the community and Casey's family were portrayed.

This book is a few years old. It was published in 2016. I loved it so much that as soon I finished it I went online to see if Hayes-McCoy has written a sequel. She has. It was published last year and is called Summer at the Garden Cafe. I've already ordered it.

Footnote: The photo of the book was taken outside the library I work at - Te Aka Mauri - Rotorua Library and Children's Health Hub. This library, which has undergone an amazing refurbishment, is not at the edge of the world or maybe it is - it's in New Zealand in the centre of the North Island.

Gabriel's Bay

Gabriel's Bay caught me from the minute I started reading it. 

It tells the story of an English guy Kerry Macfarlane who runs away from a wedding that wasn't and arrives in the coastal New Zealand community of Gabriel's Bay.

Gabriel's Bay may be a fictitious setting but I'm sure depicts many a typical small New Zealand community. 

I loved the characters of Gabriel's Bay written by New Zealander Catherine Robertson. There are a number. I wonder if the book could have had a character list at the start. I've seen it in other books and it has helped. But that aside, the development of each character was well done. Each chapter centres around one character and his or her take on what's happening in his or her life and the community. By the end of the book you get to know each character well.

I liked the community meetings held and the banter about various issues including the use of the apostrophe in the name Gabriel's Bay. There were some great descriptive pieces throughout the book about everyday life in this small community.

I loved this book but the fantastic storytelling through a dog's eyes in the first and last chapter made it for me. I'm quietly hoping there might be a sequel. In the meantime I'm looking forward to reading some more of Robertson's books. 

On the Bright Side

So let me start off by saying that I didn't finish this book. It's another year in the life of Hendrik Groen and I got to the end of July. I didn't finish it because I didn't like it. I didn't finish it because it wasn't the right time to read it. I don't think I've given up on a book for that reason but there is always a first for everything.

The first diary of Hendrik Groen was one of my favourite books that I've read in the past few years and I couldn't wait for this book On The Bright Side - The New Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen to be translated from Dutch into English.

In the first book Hendrik Groen is 83 and a 1/4. In this book he is 85 and maybe a little bit crankier but still making the most of life with his mates who are all part of the Old But Not Dead Club at the resthome they live at in the Netherlands.

Members of the club are also all members of the resthome's Residents' Committee. The club now goes on fortnightly dinner excursions to a restaurant with various international cuisine. They also still have their regular outings including a two day trip to Bruges where they visit the Frites (Fries) Museum. Their visit to the museum ends in a letter written about their visit and their view on the fries.
And I quote from the letter - " We were counting on a masterful fry but it was limp, too pale and made from an inferior tasteless spud".

The book has some hilarious lines but I don't think it's as funny as the first book.

It deals with death a lot more than the first book, which given the residents' age, is not surprising. I guess that is why I struggled with it at the moment, having recently lost an older person who was very dear to me.

I'm still a huge fan of Hendrik. I love his character, his attitude and most of his outlook on life. One day I will pick the book up and read August to December.

Bring Back Snail Mail!

It didn't take too long for the memories of my grandmother to flood back after reading this beautiful book Snail Mail by Michelle Mackintosh.

In the book she talks about aerograms. Who remembers those? I certainly do. I remember writing to my grandmother aka Oma Wolters on them. She lived in the Netherlands and would visit me and her other grandchildren in New Zealand every two years when I was young.

I remember being excited about going to Auckland International Airport to pick her up. She would always give us a big cuddle at the airport and then when we all arrived home after a two-hour trip, she would open her suitcase to reveal what she had brought us.

It was usually Hagelslag - a chocolate or other flavoured sprinkle, a large chocolate letter - usually the first letter of our name, very salty licorice and other treats.

After lots of tears saying goodbye at the airport before she flew home, we would always try to keep in touch. Sending an aerogram was the most cost effective way. I loved writing to her but my biggest bugbear was that many of the aerograms in those days were not lined so my writing was all wonky. I'm sure she appreciated receiving them anyway. She would send us aerograms in return.

Sorry I digress but the sign of a good book often is the memories they stir up.  This book, which I found while shelving books at my local library where I work, covers all types of snail mail, the lost art of manners, lettiquette and netiquette. It compares telegrams to Twitter and postcards to Facebook. It has so many ideas for creative letters, invites and other crafty correspondence and ideas. It looks at how we should start and finish letters. It has templates to make envelopes and the aerogram and ideas for invites. It features some examples of some great letters written. The best thing about this book is its beautiful illustrations and layout.

If you love stationery, paper arts or just simply want to send a letter, have a flick through this book.

Journal Life!

Some time ago I saw a bookshop promoting Bullet Journals. I had no clue what they were.
What I do know is that I love journals. I try to keep four of them. I don't share my deepest darkest secrets (I don't really have many of those) in them but I do share bits of information and what interests me.

Journal 1 - Literary Journeys - In this I share some of my notes which help in writing up book reviews for my blogs. Each page has the following sections - Book Title, Author, Plot Notes, Character Notes, Favourite Quotes, Other Books to be read by this Author, Date Started, Date Finished and a place to rate the book out of 5. It is a pen and paper version of Goodreads with a few extras.

Journal 2 - Q & A - 365 Questions - 5 Years - 1825 Answers - I bought this journal while on holiday in Europe and each day there is a question to answer. A few of the 365 questions or statements to answer include Today was delightful because....., Where do you go for good ideas?,  What was the last thing you  baked or cooked? and so the very long list of 365 goes on.  There's room to answer for five years and I try to write in this journal as much as I can.

Journal 3 - 3am Journal - This is a journal I picked up from one of my favourite stores Kikki K a year or two ago. What's supposed to happen is that you wake up at 3am or some other unearthly hour of the evening with all these amazing ideas and you quickly jot them down in your 3am Journal. Thankfully, most of my ideas come at more friendly times of the day so I just use it for notes and ideas.

Journal 4 - Literary Listography - I just love this reading journal - so much so that I'm too scared to write in it. On each page there is a bibliography list to complete. There are more than 70 lists including My Top 20 Most Beloved Books,  My Favourite Classics, Fictional Characters I Connected With, My Favourite Book Covers, etc.

And now I'm about to add Journal 5 to the pile - A Bullet Journal.
A Bullet Journal is  described as the "analog system for the digital age" by its creator Ryder Carroll. He says the Bullet Journal is a customisable and forgiving organisation system. It can be your to-do list, sketchbook, notebook and diary, but most likely, it will be all of the above. It will teach you to do more with less. From the research I've done Bullet Journals can be as simple or as complex or as creative as you want them to be.

I'm still in the research phase as to what sort of Bullet Journal I want to keep but there is so much resource out there on the web - whether it be Instagram, Facebook or other areas of the Internet to explore. I'm hoping to keep a Bullet Journal with a bit of a bookish theme. I've already found one Bullet Journalist who designed her own Book Bingo which I loved.
I've started following a number of Instagrammers who create the most creative and colourful spreads for each week or month of the year. I'm not that creative when it comes to drawing but having been a fan of scrapbooking and stamping I realise I have a lot of materials I can use.

And I have now found something for which I can use the pens I initially bought for the adult colouring phase I unfortunately had to give up. And there is a huge amount of templates of Bullet Journal pages available to download online. You can also buy templates to help with drawing more than stick figures.
I will leave you with a few people to follow on Instagram and some links if you want to start a Bullet Journal.

To follow on Instagram

@bulletjournal
@bulletjournal.ideas
@thebujobuzz
@written.intentions
@journalwithpurpose
@bujobeauties
@candyloucreative
@fischrjournals
or search with the hashtag #bulletjournal

Some links
https://kalynbrooke.com/life-and-style/time-management/how-to-start-a-bullet-journal/
http://bulletjournal.com/
http://www.infiniteplanner.com/
Or just type Bullet Journal in Google for thousands of resources!