Enjoyment

I am really enjoying Eugenia, so much so that I took my VRS to work yesterday and chose work I could do so that I could listen to my book. While some of the legal and court descriptions are quite detailed, one wonders how an author writing almost 100 years later can imagine the questions which were asked, it is interesting enough to make me turn my machine on and listen at every opportunity.

I have been struggling with the small print in this book and have lost track of the ideas and themes that Dr Brene Brown writes about. I think a good cup of coffee and a sit in the sun this morning may help me make the decision whether or not to purchase this or one of her other books for my kindle. The tiny size of print in most books today makes them inaccessible for the vision impaired reader. While readers who were blind 100 years or more ago would never have imagined the opportunities accessible technology has now given us there is still a great deal of frustration at the inability of many of us to access all the literature we wish to read.


I have borrowed this from the library and while the print is too small I am hoping I can gather some information from it to help with my art journaling. I was always told I could not draw but given my now serious eye difficulties my desire to explore the world around me in print and paint I am finding that 'you cannot draw' has become one of those things that have defined my creativity. At present I am just copying, but soon I will hopefully gain the confidence to strike out with my own ideas.

 
Added to my pile of reading is the new, September, issue of the Healthy Food Guide. I have not finished reading the issue shown here yet so have some real catching up to do. Off for that coffee and some sun now!

Boring Books

I had to give up on The Soldiers Wife, it seemed to prattle on and on about nothing and there was no real storyline. I was listening to my VRS while at work doing some boring and mundane filing so trawled through the 35 or so books I have on my machine and found Eugenia.


This is the story of a woman who lived most of her life as a man. Born in Italy, but brought up in New Zealand, she worked at physical male occupations until she was discovered to be a woman while working on a ship. Raped by the captain, she later gave birth to his daughter, yet she continued the subterfuge by marrying twice and living a full, yet clandestine, sex life. I have reached her second marriage, an accident took her/his first wife but the fear of being found out meant Eugenia covered up the death and burnt the body. As his life is unravelling the police are about to become involved. A wonderful and exciting read. Certainly a lifestyle which would not happen today given our consideration of people brought up in the wrong gender assignment.

I am continuing with Piano Lessons, an interesting yet not gripping book, just a lovely memoir of music. It has encouraged me to watch some You Tube videos of Anna Goldsworthy playing the piano, and I have to confess I am tempted to buy her next book about motherhood for my kindle. You Tube is a wonderful place to attend a concert without buying the ticket, yet without the atmosphere. Lately I have also watched a Maltese opera singer called Joseph Callega and the wonderful Scottish violinist Nicola Benedetti.

Blogs are at the forefront of discussion here in New Zealand following the release yesterday of a book  called Dirty Politics. Written by Nicky Hager, a very unusual investigative journalist I have met, it is causing huge divides among the NZ community as we proceed towards an election in several weeks. I have read his other books and note they fade into obscurity when someone discovers he has not researched all his information correctly. If our ruling National party has been complicit with the Whale Oil blog it will put a very different focus on the election.

   

Manchester, where my father was born, a city which I never got the opportunity to explore, this is now the destination of newly found relatives. I may go back again but would not alert family to my visit, they seemed so reluctant to accept me properly, to this day I think they were trying to hide those skeletons in the closet from me. More travel dreams.  

Tired

This is my second attempt at a post today, somehow I managed to lose my original one and have now had to start again.

I started reading this book a couple of days ago on my VRS. I cannot find the plot, am having difficulty with the storyline and initially could not figure out if it was set in the US or the UK. Something must have made me think it was about a returning American soldier. The author seems very prolific so I am assuming that some good plot and twists will soon appear in the story which so far seems to be about a soldier returning from Afghanistan who cannot settle.
 
I have begun reading this on my kindle and am finding it a very interesting memoir. Anna, who lived in Adelaide, was lucky enough to become the pupil of a Russian pianist who had emigrated. I am up to part two where her primary days are coming to an end and she is beginning to understand her teacher's dreams that she will feel and live the music. Perseverance appears to be something Anna has and the story of her move to a private school will be very telling. An easy read, I have been moved to watch her play on a You Tube video.

  
Warsaw is a city which continues to fascinate me, as do stories of the war, the ghetto and the Warsaw uprising. I hope to return one day and explore more of this fascinating city. Books about this city are not easy to find, some recommendations are only available in hardback so Amazon may need some concerted searching.

Honours

I have just nominated someone for a New Zealand Royal Honour. He is not well known in this country as most of those who respect and revere him are scattered across the globe. I really hope he gets an award, fingers crossed.

I have been reading magazine articles on my VRS. I find this quite relaxing after reading a long talking book. Several of the books I have on my machine are long and have been there for ages. I tend to trawl through and just choose what takes my fancy, there are several I should probably delete unread as their subject no longer interests me.

I contacted a friend who works for Attitude TV and who has studied and worked in Israel. I requested the names of some books around the conflicts between the Palestinians and Israelis, here are her suggestions:
 


Robbie tells me these are stories from both sides and give a narrative view of the conflict. I will be interested to read them and see if I am enlightened by the views expressed in these books.

I am continuing to read about 'Mindfulness', I am excited by its possibilities to enhance and change my life for the better. While writing this I need to be mindful I have a bacon hock boiling and a pot of green split peas trying to stick to the bottom of a pot. Pea and Ham soup for lunch if I can wait until it is ready! I also need to remember I have to write an article this weekend for CCS, hopefully I will get it done and not be distracted by the fact I am not invited to my son's 40th birthday. 

Spain

Two Old Fools in Spain Again was a fun book I could not put down. An easy read with lots of personal anecdotes and the realities of life interspersed, I am sure I will now read her other books. I emailed Victoria and got a lovely reply from her.

I then opened this book:
  
I have not started reading it yet but I understand it is about a family who move to Italy, the husband leaves having had no intention of staying due to an affair and the life the family discover they can lead in a foreign country. It sounds very interesting.

One feature that Kindle need to provide is a separate area where books that have been read can be stored if one proposes to read them again rather than going back into Amazon.com to delete the book from a long list of purchases. I cannot be the only person who is frustrated at having to scroll down huge lists of books to try and find the one I want to read next.

I have almost finished reading Last Summer in Arcadia  on my VRS. It has kept me company when unable to sleep, has been a great sleeping draught on nights when I am very tired and has been a light read interspersed with marriage breakups, affairs, abused children and a mysterious American. I would have liked to hear more about the setting, Dublin, but it is quite a long book and I imagine perhaps these pieces were cut by a zealous editor.

 
I purchased this book for my kindle recently; its function in my life is uncertain but as a creative person who fears failure and often forgets to 'start' because of this fear I am hoping it will provide me with both a way forward and a method of accepting who I am. It does look interesting.


This book is waiting for me at the library, I heard the author interviewed on the radio and it sounded so interesting. I understand it is an explanation of our culture, the way we think and our national perceptions which confuse those who meet us. I will keep you posted on its relevance to my thinking when travelling that New Zealand lacks an identity, cultural or otherwise.

New Friends

I started reading this book late yesterday, what a wonderful, racy and humourous style Victoria has. I am so glad she asked me to be her FB friend. The stories of the cockroaches had me in fits of laughter, they are an insect we fight with regularly here in New Zealand, some of them very large but definitely not as large as the Australian version.

This morning a new writer, Val Poore, joined the We Love Memoirs group. Hearing she lived on a barge in Rotterdam and was a teacher and writer I felt impelled to purchase her two kindle books about living on the barge. She sounds lovely and someone I could be friends with across the oceans! This group is amazing, so welcoming and yet down to earth.

Yesterday I tackled some more art journaling, mostly preparing pages ready to collage and journal on. I also checked out some You Tube videos showing other people's versions and ideas for journals. I went to bed thinking about lots of ideas for my next stage, even though I am still a beginner.

Reading is such a satisfying occupation, it can fill a wet day when one cannot walk the dogs, provide vital information, entertain, build our knowledge bank and as I am finding, introduce me to new friends all over the world. When I look at my shelves and see books with tiny print I can no longer read I still feel they are wonderful friends that have stood by me throughout my whole life. I so dearly wish my mother had not given away my childhood books, I find it really sad.

Jay and Chocolat are bored, being cooped up with me for days due to the awful weather has not improved their temperament, they even had a snap at each other this morning which is not normal for them, time to walk later I think.    

Memoir Writing

I now have so many memoirs recommended by members of the We Love Memoirs Facebook group on my kindle that I need to stop buying!! Travel memoirs, sad stories of growing up, family memoirs, stories of moving lives to set up anew in a foreign country. I am really loving this 'Year of Reading'.

Yesterday I finished The Happiness Project and am so enthused by her ideas and suggestions that I have started planning my own move towards a happier life again. I have now purchased Gretchen Rubin's next book, Happier at Home, but need to get myself organised towards a happier mood before I tackle this, yes another kindle purchase.


 Maybe, just maybe, this book will set me on a path of abandoning my need to lead such a rigid life and move forward into new adventures. Gretchen seems to have a wonderful way of assuming that her readers will be so enthused by her ideas that they will take them on board. All kudos to her.



Today I plan on exploring this book and getting some new ideas for my art journaling. I hope it will allow me to 'let go' of my inhibitions and journal freely about my life and its exploration of new ideas and challenges.

I really like the idea I have often suggested to people that they look back to what they were interested in when they were 7 or 8, then 14 or 15, this usually provides a clue to the direction they should move in when choosing a new hobby, career or lifestyle. While it is often the cause of people looking at me oddly, I think it is a tried and true method of finding a new road in life. I used to love colouring in maps, weather maps and similar. Perhaps I should now start a travel journal!