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Books

Review: People of the Book

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geraldine brooksMaybe because I’d recently visited the Holocaust museum in Washington DC, I was totally ready for this book set around a rare Jewish book – the Sarajevo Haggadah.

The novel travels space and time. We travel the world as Hanna Heath uncovers the secrets of this ancient text and uncovers some unexplored areas of her own heart.

I love Geraldine Brooks’s other works – March and Year of Wonders – but what charmed me so much with this one was her Australian heroine. She is SO Australian!

Here’s a passage describing how to get hold of cow gut (don’t ask) to prove my point:

Ever since they moved the abattoir out of Homebush and started to spruce the place up for the 2000 Olympics, you have to drive, basically, to woop woop, and then when you finally get there, there’s so much security in place because of the animal libbers you can barely get in the gate

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In Australia only prats flaunt their PhDs.

I just love it. And I love the story. It’s a love story – boy v girl – girl v career – man v God – girl v parent… okay love/hate. A pleasure to read. Easy to read in fact (took me about 6 hours – around 400 pp) but you still feel you learned something.

More reviews

And Geraldine Brooks is coming to Perth.

PIAF

Meow Meow

If you’re in Perth and can get tickets for Meow Meow… do:

International singing sensation, sequinned sex bomb and masterful comedienne Meow Meow has prowled, preened and stunned from Paris to Berlin and Vegas to New York.

Blazing her way through a beguiling blend of 30s Shanghai show tunes, 60s French pop and Brechtian drama, Meow’s razor-sharp shows lurch between mischief and melancholia.

With her distinctive brand of kamikaze cabaret, this classical dancer and opera singer dazed and amazed audiences at David Bowie’s Highline Festival. Get ready Perth – Meow is poised to pounce.

Special guest pianist Iain Grandage

This drug works sildenafil sales well when taken with light meal and the user abstains from alcohol. sildenafil canadian pharmacy The recent technologies grant the applicants to collect all the values of the deceased’s property. Another way to have good time is planning for dates on each or sildenafil online no prescription alternative weekend. For now the only pill which is trending and making a few changes in your lifestyle can certainly help you get rid of viagra canada no prescription http://appalachianmagazine.com/2017/10/24/hiker-falls-to-death-at-harpers-ferry/ this problem. meow meow - beyond glamourWe didn’t quite know what to expect. I saw the words comedienne and caberet and thought okay I’ll give this a go – could be interesting. So last night, a balmy evening with barely a breath of air we sat in our sleeveless dresses at the Music Box with Feline and her new bloke (lovely to meet you).

The show started with Meow entering from the back of the theatre, dischevelled glamour, carrying several bags – immediately engaging hapless members of the audience to help her out “just take it to the stage darling…” as she explained that she really didn’t feel up to a performance tonight after a tragic break up “I know I know”…

It was a fabulous show. Funny. “Where am I? What city?” Terrifying (don’t sit on the aisles if you’re shy). “Just hold me and love me.” Musical – the girl can sing and is ably accompanied by festival favourite Iain Grandage.

A festival highlight for me.

Books

Book Review: Going Gray

book Anne Kreamer‘s exploration of one woman’s discoveries about life when you go grey has touched a nerve with me. Sure she is ten years older than me but I have been throwing money at my badger stripe for years now – and sometimes I just wish I could shave my hair off and start again – grey but without the hassle of dying my hair – of hating my hair for 4 weeks out of every six. I simply can’t be bothered getting it dyed any more than that.

But I’m that one of those strange women who would really not rather waste hours in a hair salon getting “pampered” – Oh it is SO boring! Totally not worth the two minutes of head massage after the shampoo.

Anyway back to the book. Some interesting observations.

Until I stopped colouring my hair, I’d never dared to calculate what it wsa costing me… Every three weeks for twenty four years added up to a total expenditure, not adjusted for inflation of US$65,000. Staggering.

Anne also discovered that she got more hits on a dating site with grey hair rather than her dyed brown hair – counter intuitive huh?

Perhaps her most useful observation is that if you change your hair colour – you need to look at your total look. Your make-up choices, your wardrobe.
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So did she convince me?

Well kind of.

But Groover says he’ll leave me if I go grey. He’s just not ready. Oh and when I say grey – it is more likely to be white.

Do you dye your hair? When might you stop?


The War Over Going Gray. An article by Anne Kreamer

Books, Film

The Jane Austen Bookclub – Film and book

The book coverComing home from Sydney the other day I picked up The Jane Austen Bookclub by Karen Joy Fowler. I had a five hour journey and I love Jane Austen so I figured it was the perfect match. 🙂

Settling into my upgraded business class seat (the best use for FF points about to expire) I started to read.

I was immediately sucked in. While you might think it’s a book about reading books it is more than that. It’s about life and love and generational conflict. About being married, about not being married, about relationships. In short it has the same themes as any of your favourite Jane Austen novels. No doubt intended.

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The film takes a far less structured form than the book – crafted around the six books as it were – and loses some detail – but still I thought it was a reasonable interpretation and quite a good film. Not a bad chick flick.

The book is easy to read and quite entertaining and has inspired me to read Northanger Abbey and Mansfield Park again.

Books

The Uglies Trilogy – a review from an “older teen”

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In a world of extreme beauty, anyone normal is ugly.

cover of scott westerfeld book - ugliesScott Westerfeld‘s trilogy is made up of “Uglies”, “Pretties” and “Specials”.

In this future world everyone has an operation at the age of 16 and is turned into a “pretty”. You get a perfect body, a super-immune system, perfect vision etc and you get to live on a ramped up Ibeza like party-city where life. For the uglies waiting to turn 16 in the dorms on the wrong side of the river it all seems too far away and they spend their time playing around with how they would like to look after the operation and sneaking out and getting into mischief, blowing off a bit of steam.

But what if you don’t want to be turned pretty? And is the pretty operation as innocent as it seems?

This is a fast paced action tale which I enjoyed reading. I loved the way the pretties all talk like 10 yo girls – like totally whatever. And the issues behind the concept are also interesting.
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Would we have depression, anorexia nervosa, self-harm, suicide if the pressures of looking good were taken away from our society – if everyone could look the same – would we have racism?

That is not to say that these books are written in a heavy philosophising manner. They are not. It’s full of hover board chases and rebellion, it just makes you think, possibly even makes teens think. I know I would have eaten these up at school had they been written then.

Have my two picked them up? No. But I am hopeful one day they will.

Oh by the way… Scott has a blog too so he must be okay. 🙂

Books

Dragonsblood

This is the first novel set in the Pern world of Dragons by an author other than Anne McCaffrey. I love this world. I found it when searching for Christmas presents…

The author is Anne’s son Todd, whom she has collaborated on two Pern novels before.

It is set between times. At the end of the first pass and at the start of the third. In the future a disease is affecting the dragons of Pern so that they die within three weeks.

However, there is the problematic evidence of ED can be seen in many people and they are unable to achieve viagra cialis online a full erection during intercourse, are easily able to transmit stimulated signals to the penile nerve which generates more of hard erection. Nephropathy may some times block normal blood sildenafil online no prescription circulation within the penis. Once Game of greyandgrey.com cipla india viagra Shadows hits the bestseller lists, you could find lots of pleasure holds back for you. You will not need other ways to seduce your partner as you get enough abilities to perform at the peak levels which help them to attain viagra professional online and sustain an erection during sexual activity. At first I thought this was going to be another – was it Dragon Flight – where a dragon rider goes back in time to rescue the future but Todd doesn’t fall into the trap.

I enjoyed it. Staying up into the wee smalls to read it curled up on a soft cozy sofa in a log cabin with the fire crackling before me. I think Todd captures the world well and progresses the storyline. Wind Blossom’s photophobic watchwhers are explained for instance.

And yes, I will be looking out for the next one.

Books

Floodtide

Another saga by Judy Nunn – probably better known for her role on the Aussie soap “Home and Away”, of which, I confess, I am not a fan.

Her books are long and rambling and set in Australia, and that is why I picked this one up. That, and it landed on my desk as a review copy just before a 17 hour flight. In fact, this one is set in Western Australia and covers the period of WA Inc so it held a certain reminiscent appeal.
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This is not high literature, but it is moderately entertaining if slightly unbelievable. The Mayjay bit??

Books

A Thousand Splendid Suns

Khalid Housseini’s novel to follow The Kite Runner is also set in Afghanistan and traces the period from the Soviet invasion through to the rise and fall of the Taliban. He grew up in Afghanistan but now lives in California – since about 1980 – so plainly didn’t experience this first hand. He is now doing some aid work.

I found this book interesting for a couple of reasons – the story itself is charming – love story, overcoming incredible odds, that sort of thing – but also the story of Afghanistan is so interesting itself. We talk glibly about how they have been torn apart by wars for years but this book brought it home.

I remember meeting a woman from Kabul in 2002, I was doing a series on Muslim women in Perth and how their lives had changed post 2001. They came from all walks of life – Malaysian upper-class, Western women who had converted, women from Saudi Arabia, and other Arab states, women who wore veils, women who didn’t – it was a very eye-opening series for me – anyway I remember chatting to this lady who had gone to university in Afghanistan and she described Kabul as this very cosmopolitan, vibrant city; women who worked, beautiful gardens and public buildings. A far cry from the grey, bombed out, dusty city we see in news bulletins today. From the oppressive regime of the Taliban, where women were not allowed to work, or go to school, or even walk the streets without a male relative escort.
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It’s not a hard read, although the images are sometimes graphic. I read it in about two nights so certainly hard to put down.

I agree with the Guardian reviewer about his view of Afghanistan – he certainly doesn’t challenge the western view and he is full of hope about it’s future.

Books

Miss Webster and Cherif

This book by Patricia Duncker was a gift from The Poshi for my birthday. It’s a story of lonliness and friendship, of old age and youth.  I enjoyed it.

In many ways I thought it was a bit like Of Mice and Men – bear with me… it’s probably a long bow.

Here she is, this old woman, an ex-teacher pushed out of the school into retirement, alone. She breaks down and finds herself after a long recovery in Northern Africa where she is completely out of her comfort zone.

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What they give each other is the friendship of equals and it is not until the end of the book that they realise how important that friendship – much more than a landlady and lodger – is.

An interview with Patricia Duncker.

Books

Sweet Obscurity by Patrick Gale

I had high expectations following the perfection of Notes from an Exhibition, and while I don’t love Sweet Obsurity quite as much, I still enjoyed the journey.

Familiar themes appeared: Mental illness. Artistic characters – though this time music which is Patrick’s love. The wild Cornish coast. He does write characters well and I do feel completed at the end of the novel.

His books are like eating a roast dinner – you feel satisfyingly full at the end.

A bit about the plot. Eliza is looking after her sister’s child, is married but separated from a counter-tenor (he sings high) who is now living with a publicist. The story of her sister and the daughter – our main hero – is the thread that holds this novel together. The messy lives (quite believable) of the characters build the story and we learn some interesting stuff along the way. This review says it all really.

Eliza joins a singing group at one point and perhaps it’s because I’ve just joined a choir – but that really resonated with me. 🙂
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It’s an interesting story, well told, satisfyingly chunky (as the BBC reviewer says) and a good read.

You can see how his writing led to Notes from an Exhibition. I wonder if reading more of his novels would lessen my opinion of Notes. Whether they would become samey.

Time will tell as I will surely look out more of his novels in the library.

I’ve started my next novel – Miss Webster and Cherif by Patricia Duncker – The Poshi recommends this highly and gave it to me for my birthday. So far I’m liking it. 🙂