Book Loving Kiwis discussion

November is a catch up/rerun month!

Option One:
- Use this month to read any of our BOTM from 2014. This is your chance to read that book you wanted to read at the time but just didn't get the chance.

Eligible books in the next post!

Option Two
- Use this option to read any NEW ZEALAND book which fits into the original monthly themes for 2014. This is a good option for the people who have read most/all of the BOTM and will be our kiwi/NZ option for the month.

2014 Books of the Month
January
Touching Shadows by Gracie O'Neil
The Luminaries by E Catton
February
The Blessings of Stefan by John Zanetti
The Virgin and the Whale by Carl Dixon
The Larnachs by Owen Marshall
March
Blokes Muddling Through by PDR Lindsay
April
Swift Runs the Heart by Mary Brock Jones
And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini
The Art of Racing in the Rain
May
The Forgotten Age by Jack Eason
Divergent by Veronica Roth
June
Tribulation by Phillip W Simpson
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
July
Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier
Here be Dragons by Sharon K Penman
Sept
Tizzie by PDR Lindsay
A Bit Mental: One Man's Mission to Lilo the Waikato by Jimi Hunt



2014 Monthly themes - NZ books only
January
February - NZ historical fiction
March - any NZ audiobook
April - any NZ book beginning with the letter "A"
May - Any NZ "Chunkster" (450+pages)
June - Any NZ book/movie "media" tie in
July - Any NZ book with "family" in the title (eg sister, father, wife, cousin etc etc)
August - Any NZ "Modern classic"
September - Any NZ Young Adult book
October - Any NZ book fitting with Halloween (ghouls, ghosts, food, treats etc either as theme, title or on cover)

Nice theme. So much choice, I'll have to have a bit of a think.

Hopefully something for everyone :) Would be nice to see lots of people participating!

Oh good. I'll raid the library for NZ books.

I might try the Luminaries again. Sort of wondering about doing Nanowrimo again this year. There are so many hours in the day...

I'm looking at Chocolate Cake for Breakfast as a NZ book for the Halloween treats theme. I adored her "Dinner at Rose's" when we had it as a group read a couple of year's back.

I have a book in mind. :)

Too many to choose from. I will close my eyes and point!

WWOOFer watching Babette's Feast. I've never tracked down the short story it is based on althuogh it is written by the Out of Africa chappy.

Fascinating. thank you for that. I took the name to be male! Tut!

The book I wanted to read for next month's challenge has gone missing from our library, as has Ella Enchanted which I was going to use for my 3rd book for the Dec challenge (sulks)

I'll have to rethink.

***Carol*** wrote: "The book I wanted to read for next month's challenge has gone missing from our library, as has Ella Enchanted which I was going to use for my 3rd book for the Dec challenge (sulks)

I'll have to re..."

Those damned public eh?

Oh well, I've got something else. With my Kobo dying, people are pressing books on me - my dream scenario. :D

I think Rain by Kirsty Gunn fits the June criteria.

For a Halloweenish treat, I recommend Beyond Black by Hilary Mantel. Psychics who aren't fakes...

Next week when I have a work shift that doesn't completely eclipse library hours I'll be having a hunt through the NZ section for this challenge!

How is everyone getting on?

I've read Unworthy by Joanne Armstrong which was a great NZ YA book. I will write a proper review once I get over this head cold.

Look forward to seeing what NZ books people choose this month :)

I have my book on bedside cabinet. As soon as I finish Perla I'm going to make a start. :)

Have started Chocolate Cake for Breakfast, loving it so far, in particular the details of the large animal vet's lot. Hilarious and disgusting.

Grabbed mine today. I guess it sort of fits either the July or October NZ Book Themes. Even better it will also fulfill one of the last letters I had for the Spring Challenge too.

Will share it with everyone once I've actually read it :)

Waiting to collect some NZ YA from the librarian then will report.

Got Mandy Hager's 'The Nature of Ash'.

I finished Rain by
Not without flaws (some of the writing on the first pages of this novella was very Advanced Creative Writing & the tragic outcome was predictable.
But still beautifully told & I can't stop thinking about it.

Throughly enjoyed and was impressed by Mandy Hager's writing.

'The Nature of Ash' was a believable near future story and very good.

Chocolate Cake for Breakfast, check!! Lovely fun with some cracking lines, and so exciting to have places I know mentioned in a novel! (Hello, Anglesea Clinic). Hamilton is hardly ever in anything.
So with less than half the month down I'm moving on to The Lighthouse Keeper's Wife: An Autobiography, and feeling very virtuous.

I had hoped to read more this month (cant believe we are halfway through already!). Been having a bad run of colds and my brain power is at an all time low!

I know it sucks. I have been starting a few but cant get enthused in anything to stick at it.

Took me a while to find something that interested me in the NZ section at my local library. I probably quadrupled the time I would normally spend since I wanted the book to double for the Springtime challenge too...and all I needed was an Author with a first or last name starting with 'N', or the title itself.

Ended up with Fosterling by Emma Neale. It kind of loosely fits the Family and Halloween themes. It's about an individual who was raised in the New Zealand bush by a couple who managed to smuggle a baby out of Nepal. Bu thinks he's a Yeti/Sasquatch/Maero (He does look like one that's for sure!)

While it has made me realize I should be reading more NZ fiction (Emma does write wonderfully) I didn't feel the books plot went anywhere...the ending made me think that the Author herself didn't know where she was going with it either haha.

My Mum has read that book Andrea and recommended it to me. I havent had a chance to track down a copy yet though

I wouldn't travel to the ends of the earth to find one, but if you do, it was worth the read...Emma did create some interesting characters.

Anyone else got anything to add to the thread? Few more days left of November...

I'm still going with The Lighthouse Keeper's Wife - I appear to be making it last until the end of the month.

I've been trying to persevere with Here Be Dragons / Sharon Penman and failing miserably. Nothing to do with the story itself mind you. When it was a group read for love nor money I couldn't get a copy to borrow from the libraries I belong to. I managed to finally find a used copy through a used online seller but the paper has yellowed and the print is faint not to mention small. The aging eyes are having difficulty reading it so I can only manage a few pages (like 10) at a sitting, so I'm not getting a good flow to the story which is putting me off.

So all up I've not done very good with the rerun month. :(

Sidetracked with review books. Got a heap for reviewing and none NZ.

Yay! Finally finished The Lighthouse Keeper's Wife: An Autobiography as my take on July's theme. Utterly charming. The only reason it took almost a month to read such a slim volume is that I'm cross-stitching a gift for a friend, so my evenings are taken up with sitting on the sofa stitching!