Day 3 - My Favourite Series

I've been thinking about this all day. Honestly, it has been troubling me because there are so many I'd like to list. Little House on the Prairie, Anne of Green Gables, The Family of One End Street, This Present Darkness, Love Comes Softly series,  James Herriot.... and so on and so on.

When you think about it, there are lots of really great series out there. But the one that really stands out to me, for the purpose of this challenge is Alexander McCall Smith's series of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency.

Mma Ramotswe. Of course.

And Grace Makutsi, and Phuti Radaphuti, and J.B. Matekoni. The names just roll off your tongue with those lovely Botswana accents.

The reason I love this series so much is because it introduced me to a new country, a new culture with characters that are endearing and loveable and funny.

If you are not familiar with the books (and I am always surprised at how many are not), Mma Ramotswe is the heroine - the single lady who decides, when her father passes away and leaves her with an inheritance of cattle, to sell them and set up her own detective agency in her African village. Along the way, she makes friends, solves mysteries and introduces the reader to one of the most charming places on earth.

After the first book comes Tears of the Giraffe, Morality for Girls, Blue Shoes and Happiness, The Husband of Zebra Drive (not necessarily in order).

I love the humanity of these stories, and the laughter and the colour.

Alexander McCall Smith himself if inspirational. If you want to learn more about him and his writings, here is an interview:

Day 2 - A Book I've Read More Than 3 Times

This title should really read, Books I Have Read More Than 3 Times.

I really find this hard to narrow down. For awhile there, before I branched out to discover new authors, I just read my favourites over and over. I think I even blogged about my favourites.

So, I'll just give you one (that I haven't blogged about before, I don't think), that I have read over and over.

For me, loving a book enough to read it again and again means that somehow the author has transported me out of this world and into theirs. Prince William (according to the Daily Mail) joked a few days ago to their tour guides when he and Kate and Prince Harry were touring the Harry Potter museum, not to tell Harry that Harry Potter wasn't real, because he didn't know that yet. I laughed out loud when I read that, because that would actually totally be me. I often fantasize that Hercule Poirot is real, and that if only someone wrote to him he could come and solve all these unsolved murders. And Anne of Green Gables - she really lived all those years ago on Prince Edward Island. And in my mind, camping on the lake with four children who sailed in the dark and were nearly duffers really did happen - actually, I think that one might be based on real-life events.

So, to read a book more than once proves the art and skill of the writer. So hard to choose, but I have to pick a book I haven't blogged about before (so hard to do), so I'm choosing My Family And Other Animals by Gerald Durrell.

This is actually the cover of the DVD movie, but it kind of sums up the book. And look! Imelda Staunton, who is one of my favourite actresses, is just brilliant as the mother.

A madcap English family. Dogs. Greek island and Greek Villas and plenty of laughs.

Gerald Durrell is one of my favourite authors. So many of his books are actually informative and educational but he weaves the educational bits into such humourus stories, that you don't even realise that you are captivated by the mating rituals of the preying mantis, or feel quite protective to the matchbox full of tiny scorpion babies when his older brother, who only wants to light a candle, opens up the matchbox at the dinner table, only to throw the tiny little scorpion babies all over the table.

This is a laugh out loud book, pretty irreverant in places and Jerry just pulls you in to the magic and old-time world of the island of Corfu. Truly, this island is on my bucket list of places to see, just because of his writings. The sun-drenched hills filled to the brim with bountiful olive trees, and high, narrow walkways, and hot, sleepy villages and lonely beaches with warm water, and lunch under the sweeping bows of trees near the house - it really does sound like a paradise in Jerry's eyes, and he has made me want to go there.

I love his eccentric, crazy family and the funny things that they do. This is a definite for anyone's library. I love it so much, I actually once bought a very expensive rare edition with photographs from the Durrell's family album and paintings to illustrate. It is one of my most prized books.

If you haven't read this, go and do yourself a favour and get it now, and enjoy a romp on the Island of Corfu with the funniest, most endearing family you will ever meet.

30 Day Reading Challenge

So there's been this challenge doing the rounds on Facebook, and because I am a book fiend, I thought it would be fun to do on my blog. The trouble with this is, that I will have to discipline myself to stop talking about the book that I'm blogging on.

 

To make all things neat and tidy,  I thought about starting on May 1, but I don't want to wait, and really, there's no time like the present, so here we go.

Day 1 - The Best Book I've Read This Year

Well, the year is still quite young, but thanks to audible and kindle, I have actually managed to read quite a few books already this year, and while it is almost impossible for me to choose just one book that I think is the best, I will try to do it.

Cross that out. The best book I've read is the one I blogged about in the previous post, so to keep it fresh I'll list my second favourite book I've read this year. 

Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank

This is a post-apocalyptic novel. (sorry for the blurry image). Another one that I had sitting in my audible wishlist for quite some time. The reason I have chosen this book, is because I was completely drawn up into this small town of America and into the lives of the people in the story. You will be amazed when you learn that this book was actually written in the 1950/60s. 

In my opinion it should be a classic. It's beautifully and brilliantly written and really gets you thinking about your own survival skills in a cataclysmic event.

It takes a small commmunity and follows the events in the lives of the people when the USA is struck by a series of nuclear bombs, wiping out city after city. This little town is one of the few to survive.

The writer does actually deal with some pretty hard topics; murder, drugs, illness, theft, fight of the fittest. One of the things that really struck me is our dependance on communication. This small town is completely cut off from the outside world. They have no clue what is going on outside their little village, because the power is cut and the radio batteries are fast running out.

I loved how the town librarian, who was a nobody in a dead-end job before the bombs, suddenly becomes one of the most important people - as old books are looked up for solutions to the problems that arise, like how to cure meat and purify water, and all the children start returning to the library for their source of entertainment.

It did get me thinking about how I would cope without the internet and without coffee!

A really great and entertaining read. One of the little-known classics.

Thunder Dog - a book review

I am not even finished this book yet, and I'm on here telling you about it.
If you were forced to choose just one book in the world that you could read, this would have to be it!

 

Thunder Dog by Michael Hingson

I have had it on my wish list in Audible.com for months and months, having recently gone on a September 11 book drive, but somehow this just kept getting pushed down the list.

Until this weekend, after finishing about three murder thrillers one after the other and feeling like something hopeful and inspiring and real, so I downloaded this, and what a book!

Michael Hingson is blind. He has been blind from birth. And he escaped from the first of the Twin Towers to be hit by the airplanes. He was on the 74th floor with his guidedog Rosella when the plane hit. This story not only takes you through the harrowing hours following this, but his descent down the long stairway flight by flight, but also tells you about his life, and I actually found this to be the most inspirational.

I am sure people buy the book for the twin tower story, which is what I did, but it is his life as a blind man that astounded me. It will break down any misconceptions that you might have about being blind. He actually makes it sound fun!

I am in amazement and absolute admiration of his parents who insisted he attend school with his brother and his cousins and sighted children. He even learned how to ride a bike around his neighbourhood! And if that doesn't make you gasp, wait 'till you hear that he also flew an airplane!

I also loved the telling of his relationships with his dogs. The friendships, the trust, the learning to 'read' each other. If you love dogs, you will enjoy this aspecct of the book.

This book has to be high on my list of the best inspirational books I've ever read, just because you come away from it with this amazing sense that anything is possible. That life is full of purpose and to be enjoyed. 

Writing Obsession

So I've nearly finished my first novel.
That is one of those things that I never, honestly, thought I would get to say.
I have dreamed about writing books since the time I could hold a pen and string letters together to make words. Ask my Dad if you don't believe me. When I was 8 years old I got very, very mad with him because he packed my story-writing book in the boot of the car when we were returning from holiday. And wouldn't get it out! I remember it like yesterday (not holding a grudge, haha), and the sweet wife of the manager of the camp trying to appease me with some little things she had gathered for me to read on the way home. They were little pamphlets - one was a brochure of the Christmas story - and I kept them for years afterwards, because I used them to write my stories on during the 3 hour drive home.
Writing something worthwhile - worth reading, has been my life-long ambition - top of my bucket list, if you like, but I am a flawed personality and a kind of lazy person, and very undisciplined.

I am not a 'get up at 5am and spend an hour writing' kind of girl, nor do I keep lists and notebooks and planning sheets handy so I can refer back to them.
As an example, when I was studying at university in Hawaii, I started off with an enthusiasm to beat all enthusiasm, but ended up taking my books in my bag down to the beach, with the intention of studying.

No - mostly my ideas are all up in my crazy head, with a very untidy filing system.

It has taken me to the age of 40 to realise that this is my destiny. I have fought it for the last 20 years. I would much rather be a painter of pretty pictures or designer of amazing clothing, or a masterchef - truly. To me that seems a lot less like work than writing does, but God didn't endow me with those gifts, as much as I would like them. I'm not even sure he endowed me with the gift of writing, but it's just something I have to do, so I have begun the climb up the mountain.

The turning point, for me, came at the beginning of the year when someone I really respect, who is clever and a professional and highly educated read something I had written and paid me the best compliment I have ever received. She said, "wow. You have such a gift." Whether that is true or not, it has given me the confidence to go ahead and write something.

So to almost be finished my first novel is a major accomplishment for me. But the creative process can be really, really draining. Did you know that a lot of really great authors actually ended up with a type of depression or go a little crazy for a few months, or shut themselves out of the world. Some of my favourites did - Daphne du Maurier, LM Montgomery, Agatha Christie... just to name a few.
And after these past few months that I've been writing I can kind of understand it now. I'm not saying I'm depressed, because I'm not, but there does come a bit of a dark period when you're finished your work. Triumph yes, but a little low feeling.
I wonder if it's because you have to live two lives while you're writing. You live your real life - like mine, with a husband and kids and dog vet-checkups and food that has to be cooked and sports games to attend, and then you're living this other, alternative life when you sit down at the laptop and dive into the world of your creation. and you have to be all there, or the writing is not 'real,' not authentic. You have to live that world. You have to be those characters. You have to see that place. Some days I have not been a very good wife or mother or housekeeper, because I have become too absorbed in my writing and the world just carries on around me, and I'm oblivious.
I love this quote from one of my favourite mentor authors, Sol Stein: "the reader is looking for an experience."

But for the reader to experience that, the writer has to go there first.

There also comes, inevitably I guess, self-doubt and worry that what you've written is good enough. There are so many brilliant writers out there. Even just in my own little writer's group that I've started going along to - I am blown away by the creative energy and expertise. It's a pretty high standard that some of these amazing writers are setting, and the self-doubt is definitely a real thing.

I am enjoying the creative process of self-publishing a book. Finally, I've finished (or close to it), and now I get to do the fun stuff. The designing of the cover, the website, the dedication, the pricing, the gathering of Beta Readers. My next step is sending it out to my little group of readers. I have a wide range willing to read and give me feedback. My furtherest reader is in France.

I am not looking forward to the editing part. That is the boring, hard part. The "I know I've got to clean up after dinner, but it's just not fun" part.

I'm eager to get on to my next book now. I'm eager to finish this one so I can go to my new world, meet the new people and see what we can do with them.

Our Swallows and Amazons Summer

So today the clocks have turned back, and we kiss our hands to bid farewell to summer.
It has been a lovely, long, hot summer. The type of summer that makes you feel heart-glad to live in such a beautiful place as New Zealand, to be born on these charmed islands, to claim ownership to this heritage.

My children have never had such a wonderful summer. We have spent so much time by the water, swimming and boating and shrimping. We are not big on fishing, in our family, but we do love boats and this summer marked the first time we have owned our own boat. It's only a humble little sailing dinghy, but it's still a boat, and it has a sail. Sail beats anything else everytime.

Here are a few photos from our splendid summer.