Tim’s Comments (group member since Jul 12, 2008)

Tim’s comments from the Kiwi Readers group.

Good one, Beth! According to the latest update from the editors, the paperback version is now available as well: http://bit.ly/lUkpl2

I thought folks on here might like to know that "Tales For Canterbury", a fundraising anthology from which all proceeds go to the NZ Red Cross Christchurch Earthquake Appeal, has just been published as an ebook, and can be pre-ordered as a paperback - that will be coming out soon.

34 authors donated stories to this book - there are a mixture of New Zealand and overseas authors, the best-known of the latter being Neil Gaiman.

You can find out more about the book here:

http://timjonesbooks.blogspot.com/201...

I've tried to read "The Bone People" twice, the first time just after it was published and the second time a couple of years ago, and I didn't make it beyond page 70 either time. On the other hand, friends whose opinions I respect love the book. It seems to be one of these books you either love or hate!

Alex: An online book group I belong to (Club Read 2010 on LibraryThing) is going to read The Brothers Karamazov in July. I'll have to work out whether I have time...

Patricia: Welcome aboard!

Good to hear from you, Alex - especially as I'm a keen reader of Russian literature - although this may be exactly what you're trying to get away from...

It's good to hear about how different groups work - thanks, Kiwiflora! I should have added that, even though there have been some changes of personnel, the group I'm in has always had a roughly equal number of women and men - like your group, Kiwiflora, we are mainly in our 40s and early 50s.

My understanding is that most book groups are all-woman, but I know of an all-male group as well.

I am: our group has been going since late 2004, currently has six members (three of us who've been with it from the start), and reads in a wide range of genres and time periods - you can see what we've read (and sometimes watched) at

http://homepages.mcs.vuw.ac.nz/~rarno...

At each meeting, we pick a book for the following meeting - then we all go away and read it (if we can acquire copies in time!), bring it back to the next meeting, and discuss it. Some groups are very structured in their discussions - we aren't, but we usually end up giving the book in question a good going-over. Books we all like, or all dislike, provoke the least interesting discussions - it's those about which we're ambivalent, or which some of us love and others loathe, that get the best discussions going.

Hope this helps!

Hi, Vanda! Your recent crime fiction event in Wellington looked good, but I had another commitment so couldn't make it - were you happy with how it went?

My blog (no harm in mentioning it twice!) is:

http://timjonesbooks.blogspot.com

Hi, Craig, Toni, and Tamatai! Craig, I've checked out your blog - I wasn't able to make it to the recent crime writers' event in Wellington, but the response to that, on a night of foul weather, shows the growing strength of the genre here - and I used to live in Mataura, so I'm specially keen to read Vanda Symon's work.

Toni, I'm immodest enough to recommend my own work - see the books listed on http://timjonesbooks.blogspot.com - but you can find out lots more about NZ writers and their work at the New Zealand Book Council web site,
http://www.bookcouncil.org.nz/Writers...

Tamatai, are you submitting work for publication, here or overseas? If overseas, http://www.ralan.com is a good source of info for horror and dark fantasy fiction, if that's what you're writing.

Thanks, Suzy. As a New Zealand author, I am in heart agreement about your final sentence!

Kia ora, Suzy - nice to hear from you. Congratulations on having the poem published, and I hope it won't be the last. (If you don't mind me asking, where was it published?)

Have you found Goodreads useful for finding books by New Zealand authors?

Nice to hear from you, Kelly (and Heather)!

Dear Rachel,

Good to hear from you. Re my books - there are 5 of them in Canty Uni library and plenty in the Christchurch library system - there are lots of "Tim Joneses", but a search on "Jones, Tim, 1959 June 15-" should find them in the catalogue.

Regards
Tim

Dear Kiwiflowa,

Hi! We aim to dispel some of the darkness and heaviness here!

Regards
Tim

It's good to get some more comments - thanks, Laura!

Has anyone else finished the book? Any thoughts?

So here's my quick thoughts on The Six Pack Three:

Marisa Maepu - '88: I enjoyed this - nicely told and the right length for the material it covered. Maybe the ending is unrealistic, but I didn't have a problem with it while I was reading it.

Sue Wootton - Virtuoso: This was very well written - my only reservation is that "the harried businessman who's alienated from his own life" is something of a stock character in New Zealand fiction. Sue Wootton is a very good poet & I think this story shows that she is a good short story writer as well.

Aroha Harris - Write Poetry: I like poetry, and I enjoyed these poems, especially "Rain Again". One of the things I like most about the Six Pack series is that they include poetry as well as prose.

Ian MacKenzie - Mirror Mirror: While it's good to see a genre story included, the scenario of this story is almost exactly the same as a prominent plot element of the first season of the TV series "Heroes". Although Ian MacKenzie has definitely got talent, this story was a miss for me.

David Geary - Gary Manawatu: This was by far my favourite story in the collection. Such a mixture of humour, art-world satire, sly political comment and verbal exuberance is all too rare in New Zealand fiction. This makes me want to read more of David Geary's work.

Kate Duignan - Swallow: Yet another in the long list of "sensitive young artist struggles with difficult family which doesn't appreciate his/her genius" stories by New Zealand authors. Katherine Mansfield did it first and best. Kate Duignan puts words together beautifully but I'd prefer a story with more oomph to end the collection.

I'll comment on the stories when I've finished the book (I'm on the David Geary story at the moment), but I do know that there have been Tongan-Samoan tensions in South Auckland for many years. (Though I only know it from the media, not always the most reliable guide.)

Well, tonight I have started reading The Six Pack Three, although I am only a few pages into the first story so far. Has anyone else started the book yet, and how are you enjoying it?

The results of our "Group Read" poll, which closed late last week, were:

Landings 2 votes
The Jigsaw Chronicles 0 votes
Whale Rider 2 votes
Mister Pip 1 votes
The Six Pack Three 5 votes

So, The Six Pack Three is the winner!

The Six Pack Three consists of five short stories and a mini-collection of poetry. It's 156 pages, so shouldn't take long to read. I suggest we aim to finish it by the 20th of March, and that people taking part can choose to either post their comments on the whole book when they've finished, or post comments on the individual stories/poems as they go.

Does that sound OK?