Today I'm loving....

How was your week?
Did you find some things to love?

mr planet's homemade pizza

the maltovine home guide from 1930

...I invited them to dinner and then they cooked!

dinner on a fast day

beautiful mountains summer day

unexpected really good coffee and muffin

alfresco dinner with a view

Ah, there seem to be a few too many food and drink pics creeping in!

Must try harder next week.

I also did not love -

bye bye books

Book sorting and de-cluttering!
It was very traumatic.

Have a great week and see you next Sunday.

Saturday Seven - the last 7 books I read

The Writer's Festival is in town! The Sydney Writer's Festival that is.
And every time I turn on the radio - to ABC radio national or 702 it seems there is some event coming from Walsh Bay.
Quite apart from the events I have been to myself - Monday: a full day up at the lovely Carrington Hotel in Katoomba and then I took hub to a talk by William Mcinnes one of our favorite actors and author of some funny and insightful books.

I seem submerged in literature!

So today I'm sharing the last 7 books that I have read - some of them are book club books, some are my choice and one was a present from the aftermentioned hub.

1. NW by Zadie Smith.

To be fair I am actually still reading this, but since it is fresh in y mind I thought I would draw it to your attention.
I have read, or tried to read her first book White Teeth and I just didn't get on with that at all.
But this was a bookclub book....so I thought I should give her another go....and yes, I like!
Not sure that I understand...but I will persevere.

2. Franklin and Eleanor: An Extraordinary Marriage by Hazel Rowley.

Another bookclub choice.
Not everybody's cup of tea, but I do enjoy reading biographies - if they are well-written.
This is.
It opened up a period of American history that I know little about introduced me to the amazing and surprising Eleanor Roosevelt.

3. Norwegian by Night by Derek B Miller

It was OK. A bit of an action thriller at the end - but nicely written and for the members of out book group who are familiar with Norway, it was very evocative.

4. On Canaan's Side by Sebastian Barry

This was my bookclub choice as I heard Sebastian Barry read from it last year at the Writer's Festival and he did a really rousing reading!
Was It as good a read as I expected?
Probably not, but still a good story, well told.

5. Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier

A golden oldie!
It was a blast from the past to read it again and I quite enjoyed it.
Is the (nameless) heroine just a teeny bit annoying?

6. The Kashmir Shawl by Rosie Thomas

I was attracted to this book because of the title! The Kashmir bit!
I have long wanted to go to Kashmir and I was near there last year when I went trekking in the Himalayas.
And indeed a part of this book is set in Leh and Ladakh which is where I went.
It is a quest story, partly set in the present day and partly in the 1940's, just before India gained independence.

7. May We Be Forgiven - by A M Homes

This book is *wow* - an amazing roller-coaster ride!

Have you read any good books lately?

Feel free to share in the comments or if you blog about reading please share your blog as well.

Happy reading!

Sydney Writers Festival - up in the hills this year.

I've been to the Sydney Writers' Festival the last couple of years. (Here's my story from 2 years ago)
And while it is lovely to go the main event in Sydney, I do not like the crowds and having to queue for the free events (although it is interesting to chat to others in the queues and if the weather is fine it's a nice place to be)

There were no writers that I felt I absolutely had to see this year - it would be a year of discovery.

So why not take the day to take in all the sessions up the hill - up at Katoomba, or Ktown as the locals call it?
Also why not offer to pay for H to come along as her birthday present?

Great idea!

 The Carrington is the grand old hotel right at the top of Katoomba, sitting up high over everything, with a big chimney stack dominating the skyline.
It's such a lovely old building and has been lovingly refurbished in recent years (and I think that can be a story for another day)

We didn't have the best seats as we got there a little late and so I didn't get a photo of the first session which was Michelle de Kretser in converation with Ali Lemer about her latest novel Questions of Travel.
I think I will put this one on my list as I love the theme of travel and reading about travel and although this is a novel it sounds like it deals with questions and issues of travel as well.
I have previously read The Lost Dog by Michelle de Kretser.

After a civilised cuppa and muffin it was on to the seemingly serious topic of Australia's literary treasures. The book is The Burning Library and the writer Geordie Williamson is such a good and engaging speaker that the hour just flew by leaving me with mental notes to visit some of the Australian classics he mentioned.

Tegan Bennett Daylight and Geordie Williamson

 Next three first time novelists discussed the themes of love and loss in their writings.

Here they are at the book-signing bit afterwards - Yvette Walker, Jessie Cole and Berndt Sellheim

I do love a good biography! What is it about peering into the lives of others?
It was fascinating to hear about the research and findings of Helen Trinca as she sought to uncover the life story of writer Madeleine St John.

Helen Trinca and Geordie Williamson

The last session of the day was Cheryl Strayed talking about her journey along the Pacific Crest Trail in the west of the US.

Cheryl Strayed and Cate Kennedy

I liked it so much I bought the book!
And the delightful Cheryl signed it.

The books I heard about today were -
Questions of Travel by Michelle de Kretser
The Burning Library by Geordie Williamson
Darkness on the Edge of Town by Jessie Cole
Beyond the Frame's Edge by Berndt Sellheim
Letters to the End of Love by Yvette Walker
Madeleine: A Life of Madeleine St John by Helen Trinca
Wild: Stories from the Trail by Cheryl Strayed.

Five fabulous Friday Finds

So much fabulousness everywhere at the moment!

He are some snippets of gorgeous to brighten your weekend.


I'm a sucker for Japanese art and imagine how fab it would be to carry this around with you all day.

wallet and phone pouch by TinderandBloom

Just loving the whimsey of these clocks by iluxo, couldn't decide between this or the Paris one!

Sydney clock by iluxo

Wooden't you just love to have this fabulous shelf as a feature on your wall?
I also have a few old books I could put on there.

Atlas by designlipe

If not - or maybe, as well you could hang this bookshelf on your wall.
Does this look like your bookshelf? It is a bit like mine!

Illustration by BookCub

And I can't go past some pretty earrings.
These look like they would be so light to wear and I can just imagine how they would swing as you walk!

native american style earrings by Anabel27shop

What fabulousness have you found this week?

On my reading table

Joining a book club has been so good for my reading!
Apart from the monthly books we chose to read, it has given my reading a big boost.

I am getting through the big pile of books on my reading table (actually I don't have a reading table - the books are piled up net to my bed!)

This is the book we are reading in bookclub this month.
And after only one chapter I'm hooked!
Apparently it's a true story but reads like a novel.
Have you read it? What did you think?
It was also made into a movie with Kevin Spacey and Jack Thompson. I didn't see it, but would be interested in getting the dvd if it's still available.

Last month we read The Sense of an ending by Julian Barnes.
I really enjoyed this - I got drawn into it so that I couldn't put it down as the pages progressed.
It's a slim volume ans some in the bookclub finished it in a couple of hours!
I'm not such a fast reader - in fact I'm a very slow reader.

And while I'm here I'll introduce you to the book we read the month before -

I had already read Past the Shallows, but it was good to read it again as I found I noticed other things about the story and enjoyed the scene setting - the story takes place in the backwaters of Tasmania and it's a very picturesque part of the world.

In between the bookclub reading I managed to fit in one of my own!

I heard Geoff Dyer read a hilarious excerpt from it at the Sydney Writer's Festival earlier this year - about queuing (or not) in India and having just been to India I could really relate to this!
Also I have aspirations to go to Venice next year, where the first part of this book is set.
It's a curious book, split into 2 quite different halves, quite interesting and easy to read......but I'm not sure I totally got the point of the stories.

Anyhoo - off I go, back to the depths of the deep south of the US and the story of the garden of good and evil.

What are you reading at the moment?
Do you have any suggestions for our bookclub?
Do you belong to a bookclub?

- and the winner is -

the lovely Hazel from Intheframe.

Thanks so much to all those who took the time to send me their reading recommendations - I'm slowly working my way through them
I'm a bit of a slow reader and at the moment I can't put down a trio of Rebus books by Ian Rankin, and I'm also reading "The White Masai" by Corinne Hoffman.
It's not usual or me to read more than one book at a time, I think I'll get confused. But these two are so different (!) I dont think confusion will be a problem.

I do love reading real life stories, travel stories and autobiographies - I'm a bit of an armchair traveller, especially at the moment.

I'll let you know how I go with the next books on my list.
Stayed tuned!

7 books I like - blogtoberfest day 25

1. John Brown, Rose and the Midnight Cat by Jenny Warner and Ron Brooks ( my favorite picture book)

2. Alice in Wonderland (and through the Looking Glass) by Lewis Carroll ( because I read it so much as a child and then read it to my kids)

3. The Time Traveller's Wife - by Audrey Niffenegger ( I just loved it)

4. Cloud Atlas - by David Mitchell ( Extraordinary - structure and story)

5. The Red Tent - by Anita Diamant ( I enjoyed her retelling of an old Testament story from the woman's point of view)

6. This Thing of Darkness - by Harry Thompson (the story of Charles Darwin and Captain Fitzroy of The Beagle in a novel form)

7. Anything by Bill Bryson.