Tinkerblue

Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks

Jo sent me the book, Caleb's Crossing for my birthday last year. She even sent me an autographed copy.

Jo has what can only be described as an odd taste in reading materials. Witches, Prostitutes, long dead Queens and so on. She likes anything set over 200 years ago, even better if it's 400 or more years ago.

This was at least my fourth attempt to read Caleb's Crossing. I just couldn't get into it. I've read the first chapter multiple times over because I couldn't remember the characters and I was already lost by the time I turned the page to chapter two.

I have read other books by Geraldine Brooks. People of the Book which I loved, and March, which was good. But Caleb's Crossing? Didn't think I was ever going to finish it. It was in my bag of books to be given away.

Over the Easter weekend I thought I'd give it one last try. I almost gave up on it again. By Saturday I had read no further than page 48. I was totally lost. Couldn't follow the story at all. Sunday I re-read chapters one and two. Today I finished it.

It took about 100 pages and some choice words about Jo. But then suddenly I was invested in the story. I wanted to see how it ended. So I took myself to the coffee shop and read over lunch. Then sat by the riverside for three hours reading in the sun.

I'm glad I finished it. It was worth sticking with. Don't know that I'll read it a second time. I'll probably just pass it on. Or maybe I will keep it. Read it again later in the year.

So what'a Caleb's Crossing about? It's the fictionalized account of the first Native American to graduate from Harvard in 1665.

You can read a full review here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/15/books/review/book-review-calebs-crossing-by-geraldine-brooks.html?pagewanted=all

Flying with Amelia

Judi and Bruce gave me the book, Flying with Amelia by Anne DeGrace for Christmas. It's been sitting on my bedside table ever since. I've been saving it. For what? No idea.

I had to go downtown yesterday, I took it to read on the train. Between the train ride into town, an hour in a coffee shop, the train ride home and a comfy spot on my couch last night, I started and finished it in one day.

I've never read anything by Anne DeGrace before. She is from Nelson, BC - so nearish to where Judi and Bruce live. She writes beautifully. She had me disappearing into the story on page one.

The story starts in 1847, following the McGrath family and their bunk neighbours, the Murphy family as they sail from Ireland to Newfoundland. Each chapter jumps a decade or more, the Province and the characters change but they are all linked. Some of the links are really obvious like grandchildren of the family in the first chapter. Other times the links are way more subtle.

My only complaint? Each chapter finished too soon. I wasn't done with the characters and their story. I wanted to read more. Normally I hate this style of storytelling, but not this time.

I'll read Flying with Amelia again in a little bit. It'll also make a great gift for a few other people I know.

Thanks Judi!

http://www.annedegrace.ca/portfolio/flying-with-amelia/

Sisterhood Everlasting

I read the four Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants books years ago. Years Ago. I liked them. I know they're young adult fiction. Don't judge.

Did you know there's a fifth book? I didn't. I was scanning books at Costco and picked up Sisterhood Everlasting. Right on front cover it says... Four friends. One sisterhood. Ten years later, the story continues....

It took reading the synopsis on the back, for it to sink in that it was another Traveling Pants books.

The book came home with me this morning. I finished about an hour or so ago. I spent a lovely sunny day sitting outside, down by the river with an iced tea, reading.

Bridget, Carmen, Lena and Tibby are approaching their 30th birthdays, living their own lives. They've grown apart. The book started with unexpectedly. It's about changing paths, finding your path, rebuilding and friendship,

I enjoyed it. I'll read it again later. Made me cry. But then everything makes me cry right now.

The Cardturner

Jane and Cindy sent me The Cardturner for Christmas.

Who'd have thought a book about an old blind man, a teenage boy, a possibly insane woman and Bridge could be interesting?

I'm talking about the card game, Bridge. The game old people play.

Surprisingly, this was a quick and easy and enjoyable read. It's the first book I've ready by the author Louis Sachar. I liked his style.

11 and 1/2 books in 24 days

I've said this before, I read a lot. A. LOT.

I left Canada on January 24th and returned on February 16th. That's 24 days.

Rhonda had gifted me two trashy novels for the flight. I was carrying the three Hunger Games books to give to Kelly. There were three books in my Kindle app waiting to be read.

Jo decided I was home (in Hobart) for 16 days, therefore I could read 16 books. Not quite. But she did give me a pile of books (6) that she said I just had to read.

So in 24 days I read 11 and 1/2 books. That almost a book every two days. Yes, I read the whole book, I did not skip any pages.

I finished the two books Rhonda gave me on the flight to Australia:
Cordina's Crown Jewel
With the Risk (Partners/Art of Deception)
- both are trashy airplane reads, require no concentration and you know the outcome.... Girl meets boy, girl doesn't like boy, girl falls madly in love with boy. Good for reading on plane. Don't need to read again. Don't feel need to run out and buy other books in series.

I re-read The Hunger Games and Catching Fire the week I was in Melbourne. I finished Mockingjay my first couple of days in Hobart, before I gave them all to Kelly.
- love all three books. Can't wait for the movie.

Then I started on the books from Jo:
A House in Fez - enjoyed it. Made me jealous. I want to visit Morocco.

The House of Special Purpose - I guessed the end about a third of the way into the book, but to was still a good read. I'd read it again, and I'd recommend it. Written by John Boyne who wrote Boy in the Stripes Pyjamas.

The Lady of the The Rivers - the third book in the Cousins War series by Phillipa Gregory. I'm a fan of all her books and this one was no different.

Falling Angels
The Lady and the Unicorn
- both books are written by Tracy Chevalier who wrote Girl with the Pearl Earring. I haven't read Pearl but I will know. I enjoyed both books, but preferred the Lady and the Unicorn.

I only got half way through Bess Hardwicke. I finished it on the plane home. This one took me a little longer to read. I just couldn't get into it. The subject matter interested me, but I didn't like the writing style. It was more like a history lecture.

Somewhere across the Pacific I then started reading one of the books in my Kindle app - The Story of Danny Dunn. I was just over half way into when I landed in Seattle. I'd have finished it in the car, but I get carsick. The Story of Danny Dunn is by Bryce Courtenay. I haven't met a book by Mr Courtenay that I haven't liked.

Up next...
My Brilliant Career
Left Neglected
The Paris Wife
The Book Thief

50/50

50/50 is a movie about cancer. Sounds heavy going doesn't it? But it was really quite funny, and very good.

Filmed in Vancouver but set in Seattle, it was quite odd to see Vancouver landmarks passed off as Seattle.

I started watching 50/50 on the flight from LAX to Brisbane but feel asleep. So I downloaded it to my iPhone and finished watching it in the flight from Melbourne to Hobart yesterday.

It's worth seeing if you get a chance. During the credits, I noticed a friend of mine worked on the crew. Sean's worked on lots of movies but this is the first time I've noticed his name in the credits without actually looking for it.

Bandit Roads by Richard Grant

Jane and Cindy sent me Bandit Roads for Christmas. Jane wrote a note, "Mexico - somewhere we all know and love - a different viewpoint (unfortunately)." How true.

I've travelled quite a bit in Mexico, not just to coastal resorts. I love the culture, the history, the people, the food. I've seen wealthy Mexico and not so wealthy.

Luckily for me I have never experienced any of the crime that is now associated with Mexico even when I travelled in the Sierra Madre.

Bandit Roads sure highlights some of the not so desirable Mexico - drugs, bribery, rape, murder, robbery. But the author also meets some truely friendly and generous locals, who give him places to stay, act as your guides, take him places he would never get to on his own.

This is not your normal travelogue, but it was a good read. Despite the subject, I even laughed.

Regarding a cattle ranch that the owner wanted to turn into a eco tourism venture - "It sounded good to me, although it was a long drive on a bad road to get there and there was no law or emergency medical services, a lot of rattlesnakes and scorpions around the house in the summer, and some of the neighbours carried machine guns and crack pipes. Perhaps it was more of a niche market than the mainstream eco-tourism experience."

I travelled on the Copper Canyon railway from Los Mochis to Chihuahua with a couple of nights in each of Creel, Chihuahua and Ciudad Juarez in 1997. Here is what the author had to say about the tourist train.

"Nor did most of the tourists have the vaguest idea that they were passing through one of the biggest marijuana and opium producing regions in the world, with roving bandits and a murder rate far higher than the worst American ghetto."

"Bandit gangs used to rob the train regularly, sometimes masked, sometimes wearing military uniforms but with tell-tale sandals. They would go through the carriages demanding money and jewellery at gunpoint, sometimes making their escape on horseback."

"According to newspaper reports at the time, on both sides of the border, masked bandits with automatic weapons stormed the train in November 1998, jumping aboard as it slowed down in a tunnel and spraying bullets around to announce their presence."

It goes on, the bandits shot and killed a Swiss tourist. The mafia executed the bandits. "The train robberies, and especially the murdered tourist, had brought unwelcome attention from the authorities and the media at a time when many mafiosos were investing and laundering their money through hotel building and other projects in the booming new tourist economy in the Copper Canyon country.....don't mess with the tourists. If you mess with the tourists, you mess with the mafia."

Sure glad I read this book after my travels and not before.

Advent Calendar Day #12 - Watch a Christmas Movie

I have a basket full of Christmas movies:

A Charlie Brown Christmas
A Christmas Story*
Bad Santa*
Christmastime in South Park
Elf
Four Christmases
How the Grinch Stole Christmas (animated)
It's a Wonderful Life
Love Actually*
Miracle on 34th Street
The Holiday*
The Muppet Christmas Carol*
The Santa Clause
The Simpsons Christmas

I'm missing the Jim Carey version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas (Erin, do you still have my copy?). National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation seems to have done a disappearing act too.

Shazz, Kath and I watched several movies when they were here. 5 (*) in fact. 5 holiday movies before the calendar even flipped to December. Nothing like getting a jump on Christmas. Bad Santa is a new addition to my collection this year. Courtesy of Shazz. She highly recommended it. Just don't watch it with your kids.

As I did t get home from work until just after 1100pm, I wanted something short and sweet to watch while I wound down and got ready for bed.

So, How the Grinch Stole Christmas it was. The version narrated by Boris Karloff. I watch it once a year and still love it. I love the scene with the Grinch, te dog and the sled tumbling down the mountain.

What's your favourite Christmas movie?

Advent Calendar Day #1 - Listen to Christmas Music

Start The Christmas Season By Listening To Some Holiday Cheer.

I have a shit load of Christmas music on CD's already, but for various reasons can't get said music onto my iPhone. I do have a very small selection of Christmas tunes already on my phone. It's an odd selection:

Blue Christmas by Elvis Presley
Merry Christmas Baby by Bruce Springsteen
My Only Wish This Year by Britney Spears
Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy by Jack Black and Jason Segel
Santa's Going South by Toby Keith and Sammy Hagar
We Need a Little Christmas (from Mame) by Angela Lansbury

Told you it's an odd selection. I decided I needed more, so downloaded Michael Buble's Christmas. And that's what I listened to while running this morning. Normally I listen to something a little more up tempo, so maybe that explains my slow run this morning. That or the cough and the fever.

 

I had errands to run today... Doctor, pharmacy, new wiper for car, candy cane donut from Timmies, exciting day. Anyways I loaded some Christmas CDs into the car and off I went.

 

 

 

Advent Calendar Day 1 - accomplished

August Reads

I read a lot. A. Lot.

I have some friends who this year set a goal for themselves to read a book a month. 12 books for the year.

Umm.... I read 12 books in August. That's about a book every 2.5 days. Some were re-reads and others were all new to me. And I didn't really read much in August!

The Hunger Games, Catching Fire and Mockingjay. This trilogy is actually young adult fiction. I didn't much like the premise of these books - killing humans for sport and the entertainment if others. But they are well written and I couldn't put them down.

One Day. Is now a movie with Jim Sturgess and Anne Hathaway. The book was okay. I found the beginning hard to get into. I kept starting it, then reading something else and finally coming back to it. And I wasn't overly pleased with the ending. I don't need to see the movie.

The Other Woman and Straight Talking by Jane Green. Pure chick-lit. Easy reading. I love these books for reading in my hotel room with a glass of wine after a day on the train.

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, The Second Summer of the Sisterhood, Girls in Pants and Forever in Blue by Ann Brashares. I've read the Traveling Pants books many times before. Again they're young adult fiction and easy reads. Perfect for when I don't want to really concentrate and just want to disappear into the story.

Born to Run by Christopher McDougall. There are reviews for this book all over running blogs. I enjoyed it. I won't be running barefoot or running any ultra marathon anytime soon or ever. I've been to the Copper Canyon, I've seen a glimpse of the Tarahumara Indians, I'm fascinated by their culture. This book was entertaining and I'll read it again before the year is done.

Matilda by Roald Dahl. One of my favourite kids books. Ever. Just had to re- read it.