A taste of history

Now this was a find from the local library!
It tells the story of a few of our favourite ingredients, and even though at first I wasn't sure it was going to be overly interesting; it actually was. It was such an entertaining read. It tells us the history of how we all began to eat and drink chocolate, sugar, pepper, potatoes, flour, tomatoes, coffee, olive oil, onions and garlic. I have learnt so much.
For example; the families that first introduced and experimented with chocolate in the Western world in the 1700s were the Cadburys, the Lindts, the Hersheys and the Nestles. Isn't it amazing all those are still massive chocolate companies in the world?
Also learnt a lot about the horrific history of sugar with slavery and so on. And that lots of people believed tomatoes were poisonous, for a very long time. Potatoes has a very interesting history too.
And the word "companion" comes for "com" and "pan" which meant "with bread" because a friend (or companion) is someone you share bread with.  Also bread had a huge importance in the French Revolution.
Very much recommend this read. It is wonderful.

No One Noticed The Cat

All out of books, and money is a bit tight at the moment, so I went to the library last week to find some books to read on the train. Found almost nothing, so annoying. How can a library not have proper literature, yet thousands of crappy romance books?
ANYWAYS. I tried looking for good fantasy (there's lots of bad fantasy) by searching famous names, but mostly there was only parts of series and never Book 1, so hopeless. Finally found this shorter story, by an author I have never read before.
It was okay. A bit short, lol. I guess I am so used to reading epic fantasy... main character was Prince Jamas who was very likeable indeed, and the girl he loved and a bunch of good people around him and only a couple of baddies really.
And the cat of course, who saved the day. I don't know... wasn't a great read, but at least better than not reading I guess.

Tales of Beedle the Bard

Read this short complication of fairy tales from the world of Harry Potter on the train earlier in the week. It comes with "notes" from Professor Dumbledore interpreting the stories.
Obviously, being quite familiar with the Harry Potter story, I knew all about the three brothers, which is definitely the strongest out of these short tales.
Generally, they are clever and fit very well into the world. Not an exciting read for myself perhaps, but for M definitely.
M is becoming quite the enthusiastic reader. He loves the Zac Power books (about a ten year old boy who is a special agent) and I have to say that he is a fluent reader now. He never fails to find a word, I am so proud of him.
Now if we could just get his hand writing as good, ha. He is a great speller, but it all looks awful!

Hunters Run

Another book from the Lifeline Bookfest. It was co-written by GRRM.
Ramon Espejo lives in a human settlement on a far-away planet and he ends up finding these aliens that are hiding inside a mountain. They capture him and a very interesting story begins, where Ramon is forced to hunt himself and begin questioning a lot of decisions he's made in life.
It's not a bad read actually. Ramon is quite an unlikeable character, so you never kind of feel sorry for him or really cheer him on, but his story is interesting enough to keep reading.
His bonding with the alien holding him captive feels very much done before, but since it never goes as far as him officially changing sides I can handle it. At the end when he is forced to put himself at risk to save them, it feels more like he is actually doing it for himself rather for them. So that worked very well.
Recommend highly!

Kafka- Metamorphosis

One day Gregor Samsa wakes up to find he has been transformed into a giant cockroach...

Yes, that is how it starts. At school we had to read Kafka and I remember it being quite hard-going and heavy stuff, so I haven't been interested to read any more since then. But when I found this particular book at the Bookfest I decided to give it a try; mainly because it was short lol.

I think perhaps I just wasn't ready for Kafka when I was like 15 or whatever. I am very much ready for him now. It was an amazing book, I absolutely loved it. The horror of the situation, and the reactions of the characters were just perfect. Wonderful book, but scary of course and sad in the end. Now I might have to pick up some more Kafka at the library...

The Matriarch

The first of the books from Lifeline Bookfest I have read is the self-biography of Kathy Pettingill. Honestly, not even sure why I bought it. Like lots of other people, I guess I do enjoy a bit of evil and depravity from time to time.
It is quite frank about the things going on, about her involvement in all those awful things. Really, it's a story about Dennis Allen though, he is the centre of the story and Kathy Pettingill is merely an observer and sometime participant. Or it's just that she's trying to seem more innocent than she truly was?
It is also a very sad story. Lots of tragic people, who do horrible things to themselves and others. I am not sure I am happy I read this book. But anyways, I did...

Lifeline Book Fest

Against all odds, H didn't work today and Monday is a public holiday so three days off. Hooray!
Therefore this morning I could go to Book Fest by myself (first time in years) and bought quite a lot. Some reading for myself for the train, and heaps of books for M. We have been borrowing a lot of books from the library lately, so M was so happy that these were actually HIS books that HE got to keep. He's already read one of the Zac Power ones, all by himself.

Also very stoked about finding a lovely Beedle the Bard book. It's the book Dumbledore gives to Hermione in his will, and where the story about the three brothers is. If you've seen the last HP movie, you will know what I'm talking about.

Also, just randomly amongst the books, was a playset to build your own Hogwarts. So M nagged at me all afternoon, and as soon as Little J was asleep we got started. Now, it was a big job so obviously he gave up about 1/3 into it. Then it was up to me to finish. I made a slightly altered (more simple) variety. Still, M is very stoked.

Tomorrow Auntie L and Uncle P are coming over for a BBQ, and Uncle G too. But first I am taking the kids to M's swim school, which leaves H at home sorting the BBQ out. Looking forward to it, heaps!!!

Blood of Dragons- finished!

It took me a week, and only because I was trying very hard to read slowly.
Gosh, it was so good and as always Robin Hobb delivers a very satisfying end that leaves you feeling so content and happy.
Best scene ever; Hest arriving at Kelsingra and seeing both Alise and Sedric happy without him. And even with his idiotic reasoning you could feel the pain. Ha ha ha ha ha! Bit of a cop-out about him getting eaten by Kalo though. Oh well.
Thymarra and Tats finally getting together was good, although I wished it would have happened a bit earlier than the last page. And I must admit to looking ahead in the book just to make sure that baby Ephron would make it (even though I kind of knew he would).
Selden and the Dutchess was pretty good too, and quite graphic about the Duke sucking his blood and all that. In the end I was happy not to have to experience the Dukes downfall, she did well leaving that out. It was also soooo lovely (yay yay yay) to see Brashen and Althea and Paragon again, even if it was very brief...
I do feel she has left it open to write more. I mean, lots of stories have only just begun. And who knows, maybe one day we will see good old Fitz again too. It was nice to have IceFyre there to remind you that Fitz isn't really that far away storywise.
Well, no real lows in this story, it was all great. I must say I do not care overly much for the dragons, but the humans and Elderlings make up for it tenfolds. So yes.
BEAUTIFUL BOOK! Yaaaaaay

The Great Gatsby

This was a short read, compared to my fantasy novels!
The narrator was quite uninteresting and his relationship was as well, but it didn't much matter because it was not a story about him. More about poor old Jay Gatsby, who builds this huge fortune with the only real reason to get a girl. A girl who isn't worth it, at all.
Daisy was an extremely unlikeable character from day one, actually most of the characters were. She was stupid and fake and empty. Her husband was an asshole, but still she stuck with him in the end for whatever reason.
It was a good book, and even though it's quite old it didn't feel too dated. The scale of the tragedy of Jay Gatsby wasn't quite obvious to me until the last chapter but then it did hit me like a punch in the stomach.
So yeah, another "must-read" that I can cross off my list!

Space and Gatsby

Went to Dymocks at Chermside today wanting to get the next Dreamsongs, but they didn't have it! So not wanting to leave empty-handed (and have nothing to read on the train tomorrow) I got The Great Gatsby as a cheap Penguin paperback (since WW at work recommended it) and a book about space for M.
We have a couple of books about the sun, the moon and Earth at home but we were talking a couple of days ago about how fun it would be to read about the other planets. So now M got a great book at a great reading level for him. Can't wait to show him when he comes home this afternoon.
Also bought some air-drying clay for when Auntie L comes over next weekend. Thought that should be good fun.

Dreamsongs 1

A short story collection by none other than George RR Martin. I was a bit hesitant to get this, but wanted to spend my book voucher monies and there was nothing better.
Well, well, well. I have never been much for short stories because I think a lot of the time it's not enough space for proper character development, but these ones are AMAZING!
Not all of them are great, but most of them are. There are beautiful science fiction stories, a handful of fantasy and ends with some very scary horror stories. I LOVED IT!
Favourites?

The Second Kind of Loneliness. When he realises what he has done... wow. Also amazing setting, mindblowing.

The Stone City. Very thrilling, and uncomfortable.

The Ice Dragon. Such a beautiful story; like a song!

Sandkings. I had to force myself to turn the page, it was so scary...

The Monkey Treatment. Sick and twisted, and awesome.

The Pear-Shaped Man. The stuff of nightmares!!!

The library

Took Little J to the library today after dropping M off at school. She likes it, because they have toys and stuff there.
Found a whole bunch of great books about vampires and monsters and a couple of Dr Seuss books, for reading to M. He loves books so much, and I hope Little J will grow to love them too. I believe it's very important for children to read and be read to.

The end of the road

So I finished Memory Of Light.
It took a lot longer than I had expected, because I only read a little bit at a time to make it last longer. I must admit to reading the ending fairly early on and was happy that Rand survived even if I wished he had just taken Min with him like I wanted him to. Lol.
There was a lot of battle scenes, being The Last Battle between good and evil, and sometimes I found it a little bit tedious. I also found the battle between Rand and The Dark One a bit weird, but then again how would it have played out any different really? I mean it's a man fighting a spiritual being outside of the world (kind of), and it ended up being a battle of wills/talk fest about who was the strongest.

Highlights!
Egwene's death. Not because she was my least favourite character and I was happy to see her die, but rather because she died being really kick-ass like she's never been before.
Olver blowing the horn. So well written. And Brigitte came back, yay.
Perrin fighting Slayer. Brandon Sanderson writes Perrin better than Jordan ever did.
Logain. Enough said.
Androl and Pevara. For two characters who just came into the story super late, they achieved some incredible things.
Demandred and the Sharans. Very cool, although I wish Galad had killed him.
Talmanes. Yeah!
The Red Veils. The moment that the Wise Ones realised what had happened to all their channeling males... That was a huge moment.

Lowlights!
Mat and Tuon. Just weird and I do not understand why he is so keen on her. Not believable at all.
Survivals. Maybe reading GRRM has damaged me, but I did expect more people to die. For example Lan and Faile. Almost annoying. It was the Last Battle after all...
Elayne. What a stupid little girl! She is such a frustrating character, running around the battlefield whilst 6 months pregnant. Oh my goodness.
The stupidity of the Forsaken. For a bunch of people meant to be super-bad and smart and evil, they're really stupid...

So yeah, the end of that era of my life. Feels good, overall I was very satisfied with the end. Now it's a waiting game until March 11th when the last book in the Rain Wilds Chronicles come out.

The Legacy of Lord Regret

Just finished reading an absolutely amazing fantasy book I picked up randomly at the library.
It's set in a situation not too far from the Wheel of Time series. Instead of channellers, there are threaders, and instead of Forsaken there are Wardens and instead of a wheel there's a spell.
The Wardens were all killed 300 hundred years ago and now suddenly for an unknown reason they have returned. Some of them are good, but some were severely damaged by Lord Regrets threads (just like the male channelers with the taint in WOT) and are out to do bad stuff. And they want world domination, pretty much.
It's not a heavy read with lots and lots of intricate descriptions of a million things (one of the reasons fantasy books are always thick!) but instead written well and clear and it's very easy to depict the people and the places without all the yadda-yadda.
What I really loved about this book is that some of the characters are so good. Wonderful to read, even. A couple of them (mainly the baddies) are a bit over the top, but otherwise yes wonderful.

Hopefully the library will have the next book in the series.

Zigzag Street

Finished this a couple of days ago. It's a little bit like High Fidelity, but without the funny work colleagues and with a much more likeable main character. It is also set in Brisbane, which was kind of fun. Might try to find a few other of Nick Earls books because I did really enjoy it.

High Fidelity

Struggling to find something to read now when I've finished all the fantasy books, so I asked WW at work what he would recommend. He recommended quite a few, most that I didn't find at the library, but this one the library did have so I decided to give it a go.
Set in the 80s or something like that it was fun to read about a time when people listening to Prince and did compilation tapes, and the main character Rob was very amusing and sometimes extremely enraging.
Seriously, what a dickhead! Not even a lovable dickhead, just a dickhead. So incredibly self-obsessed, more so than your average 2 year old toddler.
He did grow on me slightly towards the end. His girlfriend takes him back just because she doesn't know what else to do really and that is kind of all he deserves and he seems to know it. She is set on giving him a kick in the arse to get his life moving which he needs.
In spite of having a very unpleasant main character the book was entertaining enough and the two guys working at the record shop really topped it off. If it hadn't been for them, I most likely would not have finished it.
So yeah, good book for train rides to and from work at least!

City of Dragons

Finished!

I loved almost all of it; I had issues with the Duke of Chalced storyline but perhaps that is because I don't like the influence his character is having on the story. I don't like where it's going at all, poor Selden! Goodness, who will save him? The Duke's daughter is the only one I can think of. Or perhaps nobody will. Sadness.

It was great to have plenty about Reyn and Malta again although I sometimes found them a bit too lovey-dovey, they have certainly changed a lot since the Liveship books. That particular courtship was quite hilarious to read, back then.

Leftrin and Alise are a more interesting couple, but I'm wondering what the Tats vs Rapskal scenario will take us. I have a sneaking suspicion Rapskal will die somehow, kind of like how Burrich died at the end of the Tawny Man books. Tats was there in Thymarra's storyline from day one, and there must be a reason. I think anyways.

Not enough Sedric! Oh well, it'll be interesting when Hest gets there and meets Carson. Hest is definitely a dead man, eventually. Again, I think anyways.

And the dragons and Kelsingra? Most exciting of course. Hopefully Tintaglia isn't far away. She will be very happy, indeed.

Now I have to wait another year for the last book. Blah. Oh well. I think "Wise Mans Fear" should be due in the shops soon.

Except for that I will be waiting for the last of this series, and the last of Wheel of Time and book 6 of ASOIAF... perhaps it's time I began yet another fantasy series? Ha.

Tintaglia

They have released the first chapter of the next book in the Rain Wild Chronicles.

It's about Tintaglia and Icefyre. I love how Robin Hobb portrays these dragons; they are such arrogant and proud animals. Usually dragons are all wise and all-knowing and stuff- these ones behave like spoilt brats! Ha.

Well, it was a bit of a disturbing first chapter; people attacking the dragons and the dragons eating the corpses afterwards. I wonder what it means for the rest of the story; a war between humans and dragons? Where will that leave our Elderlings?

Can't wait until April!

This artwork has just been released

Cover for the next Robin Hobb book. It's due out early next year. I can't wait! I will finally get to read about what happens to beautiful Selden :-)
I'm not having much energy to read at the moment (I tend to sleep on the train rather than read) but doing a bit of a half-hearted re-read of The Eye of The World. I got a few different books on my wish-list for Christmas though, ha. Going to hand that list of H sometime soon.

The Name of The Wind

OT from work lent me this book and it's taken me a while to get through. Not because I haven't enjoyed it; it's actually a wonderfully well written book. Unusually well written for a fantasy book, I think. Especially compared to those other ones I just read...

But for some reason I'm just not that insanely intrigued by the story of Kvothe. He is a likeable character, perhaps a bit distant and sometimes hard to understand. The world he lives in is fabulous; there are so many awesome things I could mention... like the Chandrian or the gypsies or the University and the sympathy and so on and so forth and it like never ends. Lots of great stuff and I can't wait to find out more about Bast.

And hey! No people turning into wolves! Ha! Always a bonus.

Anyways, considering purchasing second book tomorrow. Perhaps. We'll see. Love this drawing of Kvothe, by the way. It's beautiful.