LovingLit reads once more ~ thread ii

Thread two! Which is one more thread than last year.


A southerly front heading towards me, in July this year at Cape Campbell.

In this last part of 2024 I shall aim to read some of the 24 books currently on my bedside table :)

2024 books

January
1. A Bakery in Paris by Aimie K. Runyan 🎧
2. Grand: Becoming my Mother's Daughter by Noelle McCarthy 🎧
3. ❤️ A Month in Siena by Hisham Matar 📄
4. The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro 🎧
5. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky 📄

February
6. The Late Americans by Brandon Taylor 🎧
7. Arrangements in Blue by Amy Key 🎧
8. Between You and Me by Johanna Horton 🎧

March
9. ❤️ Such Kindness by Andre Dubus III 🎧
10. Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood 🎧
11. Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren 🎧

April
12. Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy 🎧
13. Tom Lake by Ann Patchett 🎧
14. Concerning my Daughter by Ye-Jin Kim 📄
15. ❤️ Notes from an Apocalypse by Mark O'Connell📄
16. Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi 🎧

May
17. The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff 🎧
18. The Singularities by John Banville 🎧
19. ❤️ Prophet Song by Paul Lynch 🎧
20. Strange Heart Beating by Eli Goldstone 🎧

June
21. The Story of a New Name by Elena Ferrante 🎧
22. The Long March by William Styron 📄
23. The Girl who Survived Auschwitz by Eti Elboim 🎧

July
24. Strangers by Anita Brookner 🎧
25. Sociopath by Patric Gagne 🎧
26. Grief is a thing with Feathers by Max Porter (reread) 🎧
27. Appreciation by Liam Pieper 🎧

August
28. Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism: Understanding the Social Science of Cult Influence by Amanda Montell 🎧
29. You are Here by David Nicholls 🎧
30. Good Morning Monster by Catherine Gildiner 🎧
31. Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness by William Stryon 📄
32. The Sea, the Sea by iris Murdoch 🎧
33. Just the plague by Ludmila Ulitskaya 📄

September
34. What is at Stake now: My Appeal for Peace and Freedom by Mikhail Gorbachev 📄
35. Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay by Elana Ferrante 🎧
36. The Story of a Lost Child by Elana Ferrante 🎧

October
37. The Life we Bury by Allen Eskens 🎧
38. Brother. Do. You. Love. Me. by Manni Coe and Reuben Coe 🎧
39. Trust by Hernan Diaz 🎧
40. One hundred years of Dirt by Rick Morton 🎧

November
41. The Blue Tattoo: The Life of Olive Oatman by Margot Mifflin 🎧
42. Wool by Hugh Howey 🎧
43. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley 📄
44. Piano Rock: A 1950s Childhood by Gavin Bishop 📄

December
45. The Faraway Nearby by Rebecca Solnit 📄
46. Normal Women by Patricia Gregory 🎧
47. Raised by a Serial Killer by April Balascio 🎧
48. Fifty Years a Feminist by Sue Kedgley 📄
49. Walking. One Step at a Time by Erling Kagge 📄
50. We, Hominids by Frank Westerman 🎧

Currently reading


Those who leave and those who stay by Elena Ferrante and (still) Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.

Happy new thread, Megan.

It feels good to be able to say that again!

>4 PaulCranswick: haha thanks Paul! A stalwart of my page since whenever :) And of course, I was on yours since the days of your death-defying cat! (I am recalling the balcony incident...)

I'm happy to get here in time to read and speak before you get so far into the new thread that I can't catch up. In fact, Happy New Thread! Hope it's a good one for you, Megan.

>1 LovingLit: You obviously inherited wonderful photographical talent!

Happy new thread Megan!

>1 LovingLit: Oh, just oh!

Happy New Thread, Megan!

>3 LovingLit: I am reading Frankenstein for my RL October bookclub! I haven't read it in years, but I loved it. : )

Happy new thread!!

Happy new thread, Megan. I remember liking Frankenstein a lot more than I expected. I'll watch for your comments.

Happy new thread! Frankenstein is a fave of mine.

Hooray for thread number two!

Happy new one :)

>5 LovingLit: Hahaha Megan. The cat is still with us and not meddled with aviation since.

Have a lovely Sunday.

>1 LovingLit: Beautiful! A little scary, but beautiful.

>6 LizzieD: Please, don't feel compelled to read an entire thread...just dip in at whichever point you feel like :)
Re: the photo, I LOVE visible evidence of a change in weather, and an approaching southerly is often dramatic.

>7 quondame: As I said to Peggy- something to behold, so I captured it :)

>8 vancouverdeb: Thanks Deb! I am zooming along this year compared to last, but still very slow compared to other years here.

>9 Berly: Frankenstein has to be one of my most drawn out reads, I have been reading it since March (I think?). It really is less of a horror story and more of an exercise in how many angles from which one can think on things! It is very ...wordy.

>10 BLBera: It is fairly slow for me at this point. I might need to dedicate some more chunks of time to it.

>11 drneutron: I will have been glad to have read it once I finish it! One of those that has such strong cultural references.

>12 figsfromthistle: Thanks Figs :)

>13 PaulCranswick: My Sunday was pretty relaxed. I managed to go to the gym but not much else. As it should be :)

>14 richardderus: Hi RD! I once cycled straight into a southerly front. It was so exciting, I felt the gusts of wind ahead of it, and then I got whooshed by it...a long and wet ride home but an exciting one.

I am still chugging away on Those who leave and those who stay, the third of the four in the series by Elena Ferrante. I am liking it now more that I have realised that their friendship is a fraught one. In the first two books I was struggling with the label of 'friend'- as theirs is not how I would define friendship! I am sure I will read the fourth at some stage.

Hi Megan my dear, Happy New Thread dear friend.

Megan, I hope you also have something fun to balance Ms.Shelley and Ms. Ferrante. I simply could not like the first of the friends quartet (I'm sure they have a name, but I don't know it). I could not bear the stilted writing and couldn't tell whether it was Ferrante's style or the translator's or a combination of the two. Theoretically, I'd like to read the rest of them, but I'll have to live another long, long time before I get to them, I think.

drive-by *smooch*

Happy Birthday, Megan. I hope you enjoyed your day. I hope all is well there. You read Birnam Wood, right? I am over halfway through it and enjoying it very much. She is a heck of a writer.

Happy new thread Megan.

And belated Happy Birthday!

___

My Brilliant Friend, The Story of a New Name, Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay, and The Story of the Lost Child.

Nearly finished the quartet! I am very much enjoying the last one, The Story of the Lost Child, now that I have a handle on the relationship and with age and perspective the protagonist has too.

>18 johnsimpson: Hi JS :)

>19 LizzieD: I haven't notices a stilted writing style- maybe as I am listening to the audio. I definitely feel that the tone is terse though...maybe that's what you mean. There is little explanation around why they are so rude and mean to each other. And now I am near the end, I am thinking it was because of the tough, mean streets of Naples. They are a brash bunch of people.

>20 richardderus: Hi RD- nice to see you!

>21 msf59: Marky Mark- I have not read Birnam Wood! I have seen it about though and intend *sigh* one day, to read it. Haha. Famous last words.

>22 humouress: Thanks! I had a great B'day. They seem to be getting better and better!

>23 LovingLit:, >24 LovingLit: Hi Megan, I confess to following your thread and not saying much, but wanted to say I really enjoyed the Elena Ferrante novels which I read several years back. I agree the writing style takes some getting used to (terse is a good word). And the friendship between Lenu and Lila is unlike most other literary female friendships. It's complicated! But in a way I think Ferrante gets it right, or at least shows that lifelong friendships are not always rainbows and unicorns, as well as the impact of their upbringing in Naples.

I highly recommend the TV dramatization of these novels. The same actors were used for the first 3 seasons (each corresponding to the books); they were pretty much unknown and very good. The 4th season was just released last month with older actors in the lead and supporting roles, and they manage the transition very well. It's on HBO in the US, but it was made in Italy (in Italian, with subtitles) so I hope you're able to find it.

>25 lauralkeet: Oh, wonderful. I will look for the TV adaptions.
I have been thinking a lot about the friendships described in the Neapolitan Quartet, as I still have friends that I have had since I was 12 (and one that I have known we were born-though we aren't that close any more). I think about the tolerance shown by Elena towards her 'prickly' friend- she really seems to have a lot of forgiveness and understanding which I find admirable. I feel like people are so quick to cancel friendships and relationships nowadays if things get anything less than perfect.

Excellent points Megan. The books and TV series both made me think about childhood friendships and how things turned out for us as adults.

Well, now I am so curious about what puzzles you got for your birthday and which one are you going to do first , Megan! Do let me know what new puzzles you have. A belated Happy Birthday!

>28 vancouverdeb: hehe, I will let you know once I'm back home! Until then, there is a bookish one, a historical scene one, and a Lego mini-figures one :)

>23 LovingLit: I own My Brilliant Friend but have not yet read it. I did not realize that it is the first book in a quartet. I will have to locate my copy of the first book and then track down the others.

Have a marvelous Monday or a terrific Tuesday (whichever!)

>30 alcottacre: by the time I got here it was (is) already Wednesday! Thanks for visiting. The next three novels tackle the girls' friendship as they move through different phases of their lives. It's a pretty cool series.

Took my baby (previously known as "little Lenny') and his mate fishing this weekend just gone. Just south of Tekapo are a series of human-made canals that transport water about the place in the generation of electricity. Conveniently, they have salmon and trout for us to catch! At this 'secret' spot there was a guide hosting two anglers from the US who were lucky enough to catch 2. We caught one salmon elsewhere, but I liked this spot best as it was so quiet and calm.

Currently reading Trust by Hernan Diaz, which is fab, as I thought it was going to be (I loved his previous novel).

>32 LovingLit: "Little" Lenny has certainly grown up! I remember the good old days when he actually was little, lol.

>33 LovingLit: I very much enjoyed Trust, Megan, so I hope you continue to do so.

Hi Megan!

Great pics, looks like you're getting some good reading in, too.

"Little Lenny" has definitely grown up.

>32 LovingLit: Looks like a wonderful fishing spot.

>34 alcottacre: So do I Stasia! He was a sweet baby, and is still a pretty sweet kid for a now 13 year old!

>35 karenmarie: I have been hammering the audio books lately, and these days the paper book seems to supplement my audios. I read paper books in the bath, or other places that it is quiet- which it nowhere in my house if the kids are there! I think I will get back into paper books in future :)

>36 figsfromthistle: It was nice- I forgot to add that I also took my mother o that fishing trip. We sat by the canal eating blue cheese on crackers, listening to the birds, and watching the water for fish. We saw one monster one, and 3 or 4 little ones. It was deliciously calm and warm so we had a great day.

BOOK 41
The Blue Tattoo: The Life of Olive Oatman by Margot Mifflin

Family Historian turned me on to this one. It reads as a very thorough investigation of the events themselves and the aftermath and contexts of all the re-tellings of the story...which is of Olive and her sister's kidnapping by a Native American tribe, their on-selling to a Mohave Tribe, their life with that tribe, and Olive's life after events led her to return to so-called civilised society. Her return to white society was made tricky owing to the visible evidence of her 'Indian' life - the blue tattooed chin - and all the implications that carried. That Olive managed to re acclimatise herself to modern society, and do well, was pretty amazing. And, I guess it shouldn't be surprising that her story became not her own, with various telling of it suiting various male 'protectors' more than it suited her. Cest la vie.

*recommended*

>38 LovingLit: Darn it anyway Megan! I've been dodging that book-bullet for what feels like forever and you go and wing me with it! *fistshake*

>39 richardderus: Well, that'll learn ya.
This place can be dangerous for BBs.

Currently reading Normal Women by Philippa Gregory which held great promise. BUT I am finding it very 'listy'- with series of people's names and factoids about them coming in quick succession. feel that, although it's obviously well researched, these serve to dilute rather than build a solid story and I can't seem to get any cohesion.
Not sure if I will carry on to the end of this one, will see how the Medieval period pans out what the Renaissance holds!

>38 LovingLit: Sounds intriguing, I will see if I can get hold of a copy.

I think >41 LovingLit: is also a podcast as I've heard some ads for it. I wonder if that also has the same issue.

>41 LovingLit: It sounds pretty dire, if I'm honest.

>42 charl08: I will persevere for now, as there are still interesting bits.

>43 richardderus: I usually love a story about normal, average people, especially those from history whose stories we never get to hear about. But this is just not pulling it all together for me...yet.

I'm so sorry for all my lovely, intelligent, reasonable US friends that you have Trump as your leader for the next wee while.
I can't really believe it has happened (again).

I had to abandon Normal Women and have now started Wool the first in the Silo series by Hugh Howey. I started this one as a friend said he was reading it, and it sounded great. And, I am very much enjoying it, so this was a good move.

Out with:


In with:

Hi Megan! Maybe I'll give the Naples quartet another go - I didn't make it very far through the first one before setting it aside. Love the picture of Lenny (but how could be he 13?)

Just stopping by to say hello, Megan, and to wish you a splendid weekend.

>47 AMQS: I know! He's an official teenager, but he's still soft and sweet and cuddly, so it's ok.
I liked trying to make sense of the dynamics in the friendship. A weird long term friendship for sure, but I liked its longevity and their commitment to it.

>48 PaulCranswick: Hi Paul! We had a long weekend here, for Canterbury Anniversary Day, aka, show weekend. Every province has their own public holiday for their anniversary weekend...ours coincides with the A&P show (agricultural and pastoral show) where 'Country comes to Town'. We actually went away to a little bay for the night and took the dinghy out and the kids did some fishing.

Book 42
Wool by Hugh Howey (first in the Silo series)

Ooooh, this is goood. A rollicking story set in the far future in which a huge, buried silo houses what's left of people (in America? the world?). There are law and order, employment, schools and systems in place to keep society running smoothly, but some of the controls begin to be questioned.

The greatest punishment for wrongdoings is to be sent out as a 'cleaner'; someone sentenced to this dons a protective suit to brave the toxic atmosphere long enough to clear the panoramic windows of the upper silo- the only part that is exposed to the air. Dust and wind and toxic elements are what's out there, and it is understood that to be a cleaner is to be sentenced to death.

Leadership is called into question when the mayoral and sheriff positions become vacant and political manoeuvrings begin. What culminates is one of the good guys being sent out (so unjustly!) as a cleaner, and, their story takes over. It's a fun (if somewhat dark) story, and I cannot wait to read the next 2 books in the series, and then see if I can get hold of the TV production (which airs on apple, which I don't have, so we'll see).

Hi, Megan. I also really liked the Silo trilogy. The TV series "Silo" has been excellent too. The second season just started. I know you are a Tim Winton fan. I finally started The Turning and it has been so good. It looks like there was a movie adaptation of this one too. Have you seen it?

I know it is too early, but seeing as I am home with COVID but not sick enough to be totalled, I decided to do some summary charts. And, I also know that LT does them too, but I find when some of the data is missing from books, it is easier to do it myself :)

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>51 msf59: I haven't read The Turning or heard about let alone seen the TV adaptation. And I can't wait to somehow get to see the Silo novels adapted. I am thinking they must be available in some form.
I must be going mad as I don't seem to recall seeing much chatter about the Silo books on here. Probably though, it's a case of me not being active enough on everyone's threads :(

>52 LovingLit: Those are lovely charts, Megan! I'm also a fan of slicing and dicing LT and have also leaned toward doing my own charts which, tbh, are pretty basic and generally just for my own amusement. I spent a fair chunk of time earlier this year cleaning up my LT catalog which made some of LT's charts more accurate. I'll have to see how they look at year-end.

>53 LovingLit: I read Wool back in 2013, so that is many, many books ago. I am sure the trilogy just got lost in the shuffle.

>54 lauralkeet: I have been doing heaps of charts for a work project, and I want to get creative with them but the project team wants plain. So I have been experimenting with some graphicky ones in my own time.
I also want to add tags to all my books of original date of publication, and to add book details of author, language etc to the books page.

>55 msf59: Aaah, I see. I maybe wasn't as interested then in branching out to other genres as I am now. Or just hadn't had luck with a good one!

>56 LovingLit: I also want to add tags to all my books of original date of publication, and to add book details of author, language etc to the books page.
My recent efforts included a lot of work on the "Common Knowledge" data on the book page -- author birth/death, gender, nationality -- to make LT's charts & graphs more complete for my catalogue. I also reworked a lot of my tags based on LT's genre data, and found I could do away with a lot of tags that duplicated what LT was already tracking. It was a fun exercise.

BOOK 43
Piano Rock: A 1950s Childhood by Gavin Bishop (reread)

I bought this gem today for $2 at the annual Rotary book sale held in a nearby horse stables (no really, I actually do live in the biggest city the the South Island!). I also bought several others- see next post!

This is a children's book and is the author's remembering of his years living in remote Kingston- a small town at the other end of the now well-known Queenstown. It is a memoir of "a 1950s childhood" and talks of long-drops (outdoor toilets that were literally holes in the ground), griddle scones, coal ranges, riding to school bareback on a horse (with 2 other kids), the train coming through with supplies, cold winters and hot summers. The very New Zealandness of it is appealing, even if it is way before my time. Roaming about outside all day in summer, the matagouri bushes (a native thorn bush we all knew never to fall in), Anzac biscuits and scones are all familiar to my own childhood. This was a great reread and a beautiful and beautifully illustrated book to boot.
*highly recommended*

BOOK HAUL
The other day I bought 2 books (and a 2025 Moleskin Diary) with a voucher that I won when I submitted a piece of writing to the local readers/writes festival (yay!)

1. We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
2. A Horse at Night: On Writing by Amina Cain

And today (first day out after having COVID!) I bought these lovely gems for a total of $20, all second hand at an annual book sale.

1. Shouting Zeros and Ones: digital technology, ethics and policy in New Zealand by Andrew Chen (A BWB text- social and political issues series) (NZ)
2. Axiomatic by Maria Tumarkin (Aus fiction)
3. The Happiness Industry by William Davies
4. The Trials of Minnie Dean: A Verse biography by Karen Zelas (NZ non fiction)
5. Piano Rock: A 1950s Childhood by Gavin Bishop (NZ memoir for kids)
6. Apeirogon by Colum McCann

>57 lauralkeet: it is so satisfying adding details to book pages, isn't it? Especially when the LT charts look so good after :) Time consuming, but satisfying.

>38 LovingLit: Already in the BlackHole or I would be adding it again. Glad to see you enjoyed it, Megan!

>50 LovingLit: I am adding that one to the BlackHole. Thanks for the recommendation!

>59 LovingLit: Nice haul!

>60 LovingLit: Yes, exactly!

And, for some reason the two NZ covers that were *unavailable* the other day, are there now?!? So I have added them to my book haul of >59 LovingLit:.
Would you believe that the day prior to the book haul I declared to myself that I was not in need of any more books, and that I wouldn't buy any more. What a laugh.

>61 alcottacre: Nice to know the black hole is still in existence. I wonder if its density will get so large that it will suck the entire universe into it, at some point?

>62 lauralkeet: You know, I never got around to updating my books on LT with dates of publication, author, gender etc. After all that!

>59 LovingLit: What a wonderful haul! Yay for feeling better and being out and about.

>59 LovingLit: Nice book haul, Megan. I'm glad you are feeling better.

Wool sounds like one I would like. I do like a good dystopia. :)

>64 figsfromthistle: I went back to work yesterday, and knew to expect to be tired, and when the lovely other went back to work he cam straight home and slept for 2 hours!!
But, my days are shorter, so I was fine and actually benefited from the chats and company I think!

>65 BLBera: I am still pleased with my book haul. But I am seriously at the point now where I just cant fit any more books in, so will have to do a clear out, I think. We had a neighbourhood garage sale the other weekend, and I sold off about 12 books, which felt good.

Nice book haul, Nina! I'm glad you are feeling better , though still tired.

>67 vancouverdeb: I just realised I have been neglecting LT since my health improved. I actually really enjoyed spamming LT when I had the time in my sick bed to peruse the threads. Perhaps the only benefit.

Oh, and I resurrected Normal Women, which was temporarily abandoned in favour of Dystopian behemoth Wool (first in the Silo series). It has either gotten better since I left it, or less reliant on quoted documents.
Either way, I am into the 1920s now and still believe SOCIETY HAS A LOT TO ANSWER TO in its treatment of people, women, the powerless...etc.etc. :(
So, I will finish it after all.

>69 LovingLit: Awomen to that. I'm not one of Howey's fans, despite my old friend Ruth from here on LT (rest here soul) being hell-bent for leather that I'd love him if I'd just read *one*more* and, well, it never happened after Beacon 23 failed to ignite me. Normal Women's more my jam.

Hoping you're better and COVIDless.

>70 richardderus: I am better, thanks RD. You know how you begin to feel incrementally better from the initial illness, and you mistake that for being *better* better? Well, I had that, but now I think I am actually better.
And even more so as I invested in some vitamin powder - had to. The deal came with a block of chocolate haha.

>71 LovingLit: Chocolate *shudder* would be the bit I'd toss out. I'm glad the better-better has finally arrived! It's always best to take time before trusting recovery, but it's really hard not to give in to the boredom relief of DOING SOMETHING, for sure.

Stay well!

>71 LovingLit: I've always thought chocolate was a vitamin! Ha. I'm glad you're feeling *better* better now.

>72 richardderus: Oh dear, cats and chocolate both on the 'naughty' list. I got off the naughty list by heading back to the gym for the first time since having COVID (3 weeks ago now).
My gym attendance is strictly once a week, and I think of it more as a physio session whereby I do a few exercised that target my wasted muscles (weaker on account of the osteoarthritis and limited mobility on that side). This may be how I get away with saying that once a week is adequate gym attendance, but that's fine by me. Once is better than none, right!?!?

>73 lauralkeet: well, dark chocolate certainly. And when paired with red wine that's practically a health kick!

>74 LovingLit: Once per week to the gym is all I can manage during the school year, and I have not managed this since I got Covid and even a little before. With the busyness of the holiday I don't think I'll manage until after Christmas. Once a week is definitely better than none!

Solstice cheer, Megan!

>75 AMQS: And now, a week later, I am like, gym? What's a gym!!??!?

>76 richardderus: Thanks RD!

A whole week away in Queenstown! We escaped the city weather where we had been at close to 30 degC (86F) all week, to Queenstown, where the weather turned warm once we arrived, reaching about 27C (80F) every day! It was very pleasant, and we did river swims, lake swims, biscuiting on my brothers boat, cliff jumping (not me, just the kids!) as well as some touristy activities like the gondola, luge and mountain go-karting.

. .

And, this one is definitely the odd one out. At Christmas-time, we are pretty much in peak summer weather, but at the top of what is a ski-field in winter, but snow-less all summer, the experience of *actual snow* was so great!
We were up there to take the kids go-karting - which they had a ball doing. And the last 10 minutes of this saw a grey cloud roll over the tops and with it, snow!

>78 LovingLit: Snow in the summer! Antarctica is clearly pissed off. I'm glad you had a pleasant trip, hoping the rest of the summer is fun, too.

>78 LovingLit: Wow, what an amazing turn of weather!

Merry Christmas, Megan. Your Queenstown getaway looks wonderful. Looks like a great time with the family. Looking forward to my visit in March. 😀

Nadolig Llawen, Happy Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Winslow and all of us wish you a very happy holidays!

>79 richardderus: Well yes. The southerly front (as seen in the pic in >1 LovingLit:) is a spectacular event. It has taken many a tramper (hiker) by surprise!

>80 quondame: It was rather a turn of the weather! Assisted of course by high altitude.

>81 msf59: Wow, March is not far away at all :) :) :) I am excited for me and for you.

>82 SandDune: Thanks and Merry Christmas to you too.

>83 AMQS: Happy Christmas to you too!!! Winslow looks excited :) We had to remind Gabby it was Christmas this morning, as she hadn't remembered

>84 johnsimpson: Thanks JS!!! I hope you're well.

And I have been a busy reader! Books 47-50!


BOOK 47
Raised by a Serial Killer by April Balascio

Based on a podcast by the author, this book cleverly lays out a childhood that was fraught with the tension and trauma that comes with having an abusive parent. But, laid over that was the late realisation that the father was also a murderer. Events are told from the childhood perspective; the ways in which children explain away their parents actions are evident throughout. And then the second half of the book re-looks at the childhood, with the new information overlaid, so that now all the packing-up-and moving, the family 'friends', and the odd happenings all make sense. Clever, and disturbing.


BOOK 48
Fifty Years a Feminist by Sue Kedgley

This biography looks at Kedgeley's life through a lens of feminism. Sue Kedgley is best known in New Zealand as a Green Party politician, and I had no idea of her past as a feminist activist and UN employee. She tells a story of a sexist New Zealand in which women were pinched, pushed about, looked over and cast aside. Her participation in the second wave of feminism contributed to much change, and it was fascinating to read of someone in between me and my mother's age, and her (and all women's) simply trying to get on in society. She's a legend, and the book is great.


BOOK 49
Walking. One Step at a Time by Erling Kagge

A sweet and beautiful book musing about walking. The slow and thoughtful activity of walking is talked about philosophically, and interspersed throughout are details of the author's life. I love the cover, and the small format. I bought this in Queenstown, and when I went to add it was surprised to see that it was already on my LT catalogue WL!


BOOK 50
We, Hominids by Frank Westerman

This one was a tad odd, and difficult to summarise. Billed in the sub-title as an anthropological detective story, I suppose it is that. But it is also the author's musings on his own life, his teaching role, his travels, and just odds and bits. The LT summary states it is a "compelling mixture of reportage, travelogue and essay", and it nearly is all that.

Thinking of you at this time, Megan

Glad you are having fun during the Holidays! Raised by a Serial Killer sounds creepy and fascinating. Hmmm. : )

Hello Megan.

>45 LovingLit: It’s still as disturbing and scary almost 2 months after the election as it was immediately after.

>86 LovingLit: A true book bullet – I took the hit and the hardcover book arrives on the 30th.