Kerry (avatiakh)'s 2023 reading challenge

Welcome to my category challenge. I've been doing this since 2009 and some years i've been more successful than others. I haven't had great success with my categories in 2021 & 2022 so like others in this group, I'm having to keep things simple this year.

My categories:
1) Local - Australia & New Zealand
2) Translated fiction with focus on French novels
3) General fiction
4) Crime & Romance
5) Scifi & Fantasy
6) Juvenile - children's & YA
7) Illustrated - manga, GNs & picturebooks
8) Nonfiction
9) Focus - Holocaust literature
10) tba - if any new category comes to mind
Dropbox - anything that slips through the gaps

1) Local - Australia & New Zealand

1) The Trivia Man by Deborah O'Brien (Australia)
2) Treasure & Dirt by Chris Hammer (Australia)
3) While you were reading by Ali Berg & Michelle Kalus (Australia)
4) Pet by Catherine Chidgey (New Zealand)
5) The Lucky Galah by Tracy Sorensen (Australia)
6) Stone Sky Gold Mountain by Mirandi Riwoe (Australia)

2) Translated fiction with focus on French novels

1) The Old Woman with a knife by Gu Byeong-mo (Korean)
2) Purity of Blood by Arturo Pérez-Reverte (Spanish)
3) The Life I was Meant to Live by Julien Sandrel
4) The governesses by Anne Serre (French)
5) The Horseman on the Roof by Jean Giono (French)
6) In the company of men by Véronique Tadjo (French)
7) The Honey Siege by Gil Buhet (French)
8) Clash of Civilizations over an Elevator in Piazza Vittorio by Amara Lakhous (Italian)
9) The Mermaid from Jeju by Sumi Hahn (Korean)
10) Diary of a Lonely Girl by Miriam Karpilove (Yiddish)
11) House on Endless Waters by Emunah Elon (Hebrew)
12) She and her cat: stories by Makoto Shinkai (Japanese)
13) Why we took the car by Wolfgang Herrndorf (German)
14) The Best Thing That Can Happen to a Man Is to Get Lost by Alain Guillot (French)
15) Victorious by Yishai Sarid (Hebrew)
16) The Beginners by Anne Serre (French)
17) The Writer's Cats by Muriel Barbery (French)
18) Monastery by Eduardo Halfon (Spanish)
19) The Man who Planted Trees by Jean Giono (French)

3) General fiction

1) Finches by A.M. Muffaz
2) A cup of tea by Amy Ephron
3) The Evening of the Holiday by Shirley Hazzard
4) The Jew Store by Stella Suberman
5) The Ten Thousand Things by John Spurling
6) My brother Michael by Mary Stewart
7) Gidget by Frederick Kohner
8) Rizzio by Denise Mina
9) The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka
10) The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies by Alison Goodman
11) Hotel Pastis by Peter Mayle
12) The Car Share by Zoe Brisby
13) Meredith, alone by Claire Alexander
14) Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine by Gail Honeyman
15) City of Spies by Mara Timon

4) Crime & Romance

Crime:
1) Emily Noble's Disgrace by Mary Paulson-Ellis
2) Offside by Manuel Vazquez Montalban
3) Tokyo Express by Seichō Matsumoto
4) Traced by Catherine Jinks
5) Murder in the Marais by Cara Black
6) Conviction by D. A. Mishani
7) Anxious People by Fredrik Backman
8) Death in Shangri La by Yigal Zur
9) Passport to Death by Yigal Zur
10) 400 Days by Chetan Bhagat
11) Extraordinary People by Peter May

Romance:
1) Twice Shy by Sarah Hogle
2) Going Dutch by Katie Fforde
3) A wedding in the country by Katie Fforde
4) A wedding in Provence by Katie Fforde
5) One Enchanted Evening by Katie Fforde
6) Eight Perfect Hours by Lia Louis
7) The Rose Revived by Katie Fforde
8) Book Lovers by Emily Henry
9) The Bride Test by Helen Hoang

5) Scifi & Fantasy

scifi:
1) Queens Of An Alien Sun by Peter F. Hamilton

Fantasy:
1) Black Powder War by Naomi Novik
2) The Sheepfarmer's daughter by Elizabeth Moon
3) Divided Allegiance by Elizabeth Moon
4) Oath of Gold by Elizabeth Moon
5) Thraxas and the Ice Dragon Thraxas #9 by Martin Millar
6) Thraxas and the Oracle Thraxas #10 by Martin Millar
7) Thraxas of Turai Thraxas #11 by Martin Millar
8) Thraxas meets his enemies Thraxas #12 by Martin Millar

6) Juvenile - children's & YA
I have an ongoing challenge to read all the Carnegie Medal (UK) winners so will note those as I complete them. Currently have started Sea Change.

children
1) Tyger by S.F. Said
2) Sword Song by Rosemary Sutcliff
3) Escape to the River Sea by Emma Carroll
4) The Last Cherry Blossom by Kathleen Burkinshaw
5) The Gardens of Dorr by Paul Biegel
6) Sea Change by Richard Armstrong (Carnegie Medal (UK) 1948
7) Three Scoops by David Hill
8) A ceiling made of eggshells by Gail Carson Levine
9) The Little Bookroom by Eleanor Farjeon
10) Where the world ends by Geraldine McCaughrean
11) Crushing the red flowers by Jennifer Voigt Kaplan
12) The Minstrel and the Dragon Pup by Rosemary Sutcliff
13) The Little Match Girl Strikes Back by Emma Carroll & Lauren Child

YA
1) The girl with the red balloon by Kathryn Locke
2) Running with Ivan by Suzanne Leal
3) Different for Boys by Patrick Ness
4) No hero for the Kaiser by Rudolf Frank
6) Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys
7) Wrath by Marcus Sedgwick
8) The Calling by Fleur Beale
9) Half my Life by Diana Noonan

7) Illustrated - manga, GNs & picturebooks

manga
1) Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun, Vol. 1 by Izumi Tsubaki
2) Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun, Vol. 2 by Izumi Tsubaki
3) Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun, Vol. 3 by Izumi Tsubaki
4) Spy x Family vol. 1 by Tatsuya Endo
5) The Apothecary Diaries vol. 6 by Natsu Hyuuga
6) Berserk deluxe edition vol.1 by Kentaro Miura
7) Spy x Family vol.1 by Tatsuya Endo
8) 5 Centimeters per Second by Makoto Shinkai
9) The Ancient Magus' Bride vol 1 by Kore Yamazaki
10) Barefoot Gen: A Cartoon Story of Hiroshima, Volume 1 by Keiji Nakazawa
11) She and her cat by Makoto Shinkai
12) The Garden of Words by Makoto Shinkai

graphic novels
1) The Butchery by Bastien Vivès
2) Phoebe and her unicorn by Dana Simpson
3) Bloodlust & Bonnets by Emily McGovern
4) The Unfinished Corner by Dani Colman
5) The Grand Odalisque by Jérôme Mulot, Florent Ruppert, Bastien Vivès
6) Esther's Notebooks: Tales from my ten-year-old life by Riad Sattouf

picturebooks
1) Jiffy's Greatest Hits by Catherine Chidgey
2) Kororā and the sushi shop by Linda Jane Kaegan
3) The Water Bottle by Philippa Werry
4) There's a king in the cupboard by Margaret Mahy
5) The Hiroshima Story / Hiroshima No Pika by Toshi Muraki
6) The Cat and the Devil by James Joyce
8) A Boy, His Dog and the Sea by Anthony Browne
9) The Midnight Babies by Isabel Greenberg

8) Nonfiction

1) I was a child: a memoir by Bruce Eric Kaplan
2) My Father's Son by Frank O'Connor
3) Tokyo Rose: Zero Hour: A Japanese American Woman's Persecution and Ultimate Redemption After World War II by Andre R Frattino

9) Focus - Holocaust literature

Adult:
1) Fragments: memories of a wartime childhood by Binjamin Wilkomirski
2) The Last of the Just by André Schwarz-Bart
3) Chasing the King of Hearts by Hanna Krall
4) A Cat at Dachau by Elyse Hoffman
5) The Pawnbroker by Edward Lewis Wallant

Juvenile:
1) Twenty and Ten by Claire Huchet Bishop
2) I have lived a thousand years by Livia Bittern-Jackson
3) Broken Strings by Eric Walters & Kathy Kacer

Graphic Novel:
1) But I live: Three Stories of Child Survivors of the Holocaust edited by Charlotte Schallié

10) tba - if any new category comes to mind

Dropbox - anything that slips through the gaps

The Trivia Man by Deborah O'Brien (2015)
fiction
I picked this up in a library sale a few days ago. It's a light read that focuses on quirky personalities. Kevin loves trivia competitions and he has his own team, 'One Man Band', that just includes himself. Maggie is in another team and has been unhappily in love for most of her adult life.
The trivia nights are fun to read and O'Brien manages to make this a sympathetic look at both children and adults who have different unsocial behaviours.

Local category - Australian author

__
Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun, Vol. 1 by Izumi Tsubaki
Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun, Vol. 2 by Izumi Tsubaki
Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun, Vol. 3 by Izumi Tsubaki
manga

Daughter wanted me to read these, she'd watched the anime and was interested in how it played out originally in the manga. rabbitprincess in last year's category challenge mentioned them so I got the first 3 from the library.
I found them quite hard to read, just not my thing. A high school girl has a crush on a fellow student. He thinks she's a fan of his published manga and takes her on as one of his assistants. I can see how younger readers would enjoy it.
I think I'm over manga now. I just want to continue with 3 or 4 series that I enjoyed and leave the rest alone.

Treasure & Dirt by Chris Hammer (2021)
crime
Ivan Lucic & Nell Buchanan #1. I've already read book #2 so am up to date.
A gruesome murder in an opal mine needs to be investigated. Ivan, a homicide detective flies in to the NSW mining town from Sydney where he is met by junior detective Nell. She knows the town well and together they unravel more and more history to this death.
I enjoyed this a lot, Hammer can be a tad over the top plot-wise but I'm ok with that as I enjoy his characters.
This was published in the US as Opal Country. I see that his The Tilt will be published elsewhere as Dead Man's Creek.

Local: Australian writer, this also fits the crime category but I've decided to put all my Australian reads in the Local category

I got four NZ picture books from the library, all recently published and I requested them for the January KiddyCAT: Picture books/Graphic novels challenge. I also have some graphic novels to get through.


Jiffy's Greatest Hits by Catherine Chidgey (2022)
picturebook
Illustrated by Astrid Matijasevich. Chidgey not only writes wonderful literary fiction, she's also written a couple of picturebooks about cats. I read Jiffy, cat detective a few years ago and at the time read a news article that Jiffy is based on her own cat.

Jiffy's Greatest Hits was an absolute delight to read, I think any cat lover would love it. The illustration style is comic so most will buy this for children. Jiffy loves to sing and regales his owners with loud exuberant songs he's made up from late afternoon and on through the night. Finally tired out from singing, Jiffy curls up in his favourite spot in the morning surrounded by the frazzled family. Chidgey gives us some delightful little songs along the way, this one sung at midnight...'Put away that cage,
there's nothing wrong with me.
The vet has freezing hands
and stinks of herbal tea.
I'll go hide in the laundry,
beneath a dirty sock.
I'll go hide in the Lego
and pretend I am a block.'


Kororā and the sushi shop by Linda Jane Kaegan (2022)
picturebook

In 2019 there were several media stories about a couple of little blue penguins nesting under a sushi shop near Wellington's waterfront. This cute picturebook is the result. The illustrations by Jenny Cooper are delightful, I love that sushi is included in the title word 'kororā'. The Maori word for penguin is kororā.
A review here: https://www.nzbooklovers.co.nz/post/koror%C4%81-and-the-sushi-shop-by-linda-jane...
One of the news stories: https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/114263480/penguins-removed-from-wellington-s...

I think there'll soon be a picturebook about the seal that broke into a house
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/aug/19/seal-breaks-into-new-zealand-home-...


The Water Bottle by Philippa Werry (2022)
picturebook

Werry looks at a different angle for her ANZAC story, that of Turkish immigrants to New Zealand who have a story from the other side of the Gallipoili conflict during WW1.
The book has been illustrated by Burak Akbay, a Turkish artist, which is a nice touch.
Here's Philippa discussing the background to the book: https://philippawerry.co.nz/the-water-bottle/


There's a king in the cupboard by Margaret Mahy (2022)
picturebook
Illustrated by Minrui Yang. Yang was the winner of publisher Hachette's 2021 Margaret Mahy Illustration Prize, she was also shortlisted for the 2017 Gavin Bishop Illustration Award. The prize gives an illustrator the opportunity to illustrate one of Mahy's stories.
The story is fun and the illustration style quite exuberant. The link goes to the story but not this particular picturebook. I'll be looking out the other winners of this award.
More about the prize and Minrui Yang here: https://www.nzherald.co.nz/whanganui-chronicle/news/auckland-illustrator-wins-ma...

The Butchery by Bastien Vivès (2017)French) (2021 Eng)
graphic novel

I got this from a list of French graphic novels, I generally like reading these, though this one didn't really grab me much. It's light on text, relying on the illustrations to tell the story of a relationship.
Oh dear, I just googled Vivès name to read more about his art style and in the last few days he's being investigated for all sorts of not nice stuff.

Tyger by S.F. Said (2022)
children's
This was well worth the wait. Said is not a prolific writer but when he does publish a book it's well worth the wait, this one took him 9 years. All his books have been illustrated by Dave McKean.
This has been promoted as a classic in the making and I have to agree, it's a lovely lovely story about a mythical tyger, wounded and in hiding in an alternate London. She is found and helped by two children, London born but of Muslim heritage. The society is repressive, slavery wasn't quite abolished back in the day and there is disharmony between the British and the immigrant population. There's a strong reference to William Blake throughout which adds to the enjoyment of the book.
I follow Said on twitter where he constantly promotes children's books and a love of reading.


From wikipedia: S. F. Said is a British Muslim author of Middle Eastern background, who was born in Beirut and spent his first years in Jordan. He describes his origins as "Iraqi, Egyptian, Kurdish, and Circassian." He grew up in London, moving there with his mother at the age of two. After graduating from the University of Cambridge, he worked as a press attaché and speech writer for the Crown Prince of Jordan's office in London for six years. He began a Ph.D. in 1997 looking at the lives of young Muslims in Britain, but left academia to focus on film journalism for The Daily Telegraph – where he brought attention to much so-called world cinema, including contemporary Islamic cinema – and on writing for children. Said has also written a number of articles and reviews for The Guardian about children's books

The old woman with a knife by Gu Byeong-mo (2013 Korean) (2022 English)
crime
This was a BB from Deborah's (arubabookwoman) 2022 75Books thread, I immediately requested it from the library after reading her comments.
I enjoyed this dark comedy though I think I enjoyed The Plotters more. Anyway both are about assassins and both have that 'Korean' vibe to them. I loved the choice of names here - Worryfixer, Hornclaw and the dog, Deadweight.

Sword Song by Rosemary Sutcliff (1997)
childrens

This one is from near the end of her Dolphin Ring cycle. The manuscript for the book was discovered in a drawer after Sutcliff's death in 1992 and published posthumously.
The story is about young Bjarni, a Viking boy, who is banished from his village in Britain and spends five years as a mercenary serving various Viking lords in the islands around Scotland before he can return home. Exciting and reminded me of how much I enjoyed King Hereafter last year.

I read this for the 75 Books British authors January challenge which features Rosemary Sutcliff.

Escape to the River Sea by Emma Carroll (2022)
childrens
Carroll was asked to write a tribute novel to Eva Ibbotson based on Ibbotson's Journey to the River Sea. This was quite well done, Carroll uses Maia's children and the Amazon setting to tell an adventure set in post World War Two. Rosa, who came to Britain on the kindertransport, has spent most of the war in a stately country home filled with girls who've been billeted from their London homes. Now she's on her way to Manaus and an adventure.

The Last Cherry Blossom by Kathleen Burkinshaw (2016)
childrens
Burkinshaw has based this on her mother's story. Her mother was only 12 years old when the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and this tells of her innocent life in the year leading up to the bombing and then the aftermath. Burkinshaw shared her mother's story in local schools for several years before being asked to write this so the story could reach a wider audience.
There's a large glossary of Japanese words and phrases and a small reference list which includes:
A Boy called H: A Childhood in Wartime Japan by Kappa Senoh
The Last Train from Hiroshima by Charles Pellegrino
The Making of Modern Japan by Marius B. Jansen
Plum Wine by Angela Davis-Gardner
Warriors in Crossfire by Nancy Bo Flood

I added this to the 75 Books TIOLI January challenge to read a book set in Kyoto, Hiroshima, Tokyo or Numazu

Phoebe and her unicorn by Dana Simpson (2014)
children's GN
Another read for the January KiddyCAT: Picture books/Graphic novels challenge.
There are 15 in this series but I'll stop after one book as this is too juvenile. It's very funny and I can see children loving them. Phoebe comes across an unicorn when out in the woods and is granted a wish. The unicorn was absolutely not expecting Phoebe's wish, which is for them to be best friends. So Marigold Heavenly Nostrils gets to hang out with Phoebe and for both it's a learning curve.

Purity of Blood by Arturo Pérez-Reverte (1997 Spanish) (2006 Eng)
fiction
Captain Alatriste #2. I read the first book at least 10 years ago and never got round to continuing the series even though I enjoyed that first one. This one lifts the lid on the ugly Spanish politics of the 17th century where the Inquisition has made it unsafe to even be a descendant of a converso as family lines are inspected for purity of blood.
There's enough deadly sword and dagger play here to fit with my own TIOLI challenge of reading a swashbuckling adventure.

Welcome back! You have been busy reading already, and thanks for reminding me of Sword Song, I've got that somewhere...

>24 avatiakh:

I actually have that book somewhere and I should give that series a try.

>25 MissWatson: Quite a few people read The Eagle of the Ninth for that challenge. Several are intending to read all the books of the Dolphin Ring Cycle. I'm keen to read another fairly soon.

>26 hailelib: Definitely start with book #1 which introduces you to all the characters in the series. I've had this book and several others by Pérez-Reverte on my tbr piles for some years, another result from foraging in used bookshops over the years.

Welcome back! I'll probably rotate among Monthly Girls' Nozaki-Kun, Natsume's Book of Friends, and A Man and His Cat throughout the year, but I won't binge them the same way I did Heartstopper last year.

Also taking a book bullet for The Trivia Man!

>28 rabbitprincess: Thanks. I'm keen to continue Vagabond & The Apothecary Diaries.

Good luck with your 2023 reading. Korora and the Sushi Shop looks cute. I will look into finding this.

Good luck with your 2023 reading!

>30 lowelibrary: >31 Tess_W: Thanks for visiting

The Hiroshima Story / Hiroshima No Pika by Toshi Muraki (1980)
picturebook

Muraki is an artist and with her husband (also an artist) had gone to Hiroshima in the aftermath to try and find family members. They painted and exhibited The Hiroshima Panels and a visitor had an emotional outburst. It was the mother who told her story and Muraki went on to turn this story into a picturebook for the young. The illustrations are graphic but effective.
The Hiroshima Panels are viewable here: https://marukigallery.jp/en/hiroshimapanels/

Twenty and Ten by Claire Huchet Bishop (1952)
children
This slight novel for children is illustrated by William Pène du Bois. Huchet Bishop grew up in France and wrote this based on a real event. Ten Jewish children join twenty French school children in an old Catholic schoolhouse out in the countryside. After only a few days two Nazi soldiers turn up when the nun/school teacher has gone to a nearby village. The children have the good sense to hide the Jewish children in a cave. After two days the soldiers finally give up their search. All the tension in their predicament and the bravery of the children comes across in the narrative.
The author's bio is quite interesting - Born in Switzerland, 'she grew up in Le Havre, France, and attended the Sorbonne for a time before founding France’s first library for children, L’Heure Joyeuse. Her children’s books grew out of the popular stories she told both at L’Heure Joyeuse and at the New York Public Library, where she worked after marrying the pianist Frank Bishop and settling in the United States. Among the seventeen works of fiction she wrote for children are The Five Chinese Brothers (1938), Twenty and Ten (1952), and the Newbery Honor books Pancakes-Paris (1947) and All Alone (1953).'
https://www.scarboromissions.ca/interfaith-dialogue/jewish-christian-relations/p...

The Life I was Meant to Live by Julien Sandrel (2020 French/English)
fiction
I read Sandrel's The Book of Wonders late last year and while it was a lightweight read I thought I'd try another of his.
39 year old Romane is living a boringly safe life in Paris when one of her patients says that she's seen her at a hospital when on a recent trip to Marseille. Romane decides to investigate this lookalike woman and finds much more than a doppelganger.
This was an easy read but the plot was fairly over the top. One of the reasons I kept reading is that it was partly set in an Avignon bookshop.

The governesses by Anne Serre (1992 French) (2018 Eng)
novella
This was picked at random off the library shelves and I've already requested the only other book by her that the library has. Described as a systems novel in the guise of a post modern fairy tale, I loved this story of three seductive governesses who act in the most unladylike manner from time to time.

Bloodlust & Bonnets by Emily McGovern (2019)
graphic novel
This was on MickyFine's 5 star list for 2022 and the title appealed, so i requested it from the library for the January KiddyCAT: Picture books/Graphic novels challenge.
A fun read which sort of stars a comic Lord Byron with Sir Walter Scott putting in a madcap appearance from time to time. A Regency romp with a vampire adventure but mostly lots of random comings and goings with the occasional drop of whiskey. I loved the art style as well.

The Gardens of Dorr by Paul Biegel (1969 Dutch) (1975 Eng)
children
Every now and then I visit the Pushkin Press website to see what they've been translating and publishing. This edition came out late last year and my library finally got it in at my request.
A magical story with lots of stories being told along the way as a young girl on a serious mission comes to the ruined city of Dorr on a quest to find the lost gardens. Quite an enchanting fairy tale.
The cover art for this is much more colourful than the original cover for the Dutch edition though I like that one better.

I was a child: a memoir by Bruce Eric Kaplan (2015)
memoir
I'm not sure how I came across this one but it was a delightful encounter. BEK is an artist whose cartoons have featured in The New Yorker. This is a simple stringing together of memories of childhood, all the unimportant ones that are actually important for a child. What comes across is a love of watching films and tv shows, almost an obsession. Most pages include a simple but expressive line drawing - one of Barbara Streisand's nose, another of Alfred Hichcock seen from behind, the album cover of My Fair Lady etc etc.

The Unfinished Corner by Dani Colman (2021)
children's graphic novel
I think I found mention of this one on the Jewish Book Council website. Anyway my daughter picked it up off my pile of library books and started reading and exclaimed,' This is everything I would have loved to read as a child. Why wasn't it written 15 years ago!"
Miriam is days away from her bat mitzvah and also needs to tell her friends that she's changing schools. When out on a field trip she and her friends end up on a quest to finish a corner of the universe that was left undone. This one is full of Jewish mythology and is a great read.

The Grand Odalisque by Jérôme Mulot, Florent Ruppert, Bastien Vivès (2012 French) (2020 English)
graphic novel
Two women who are skilled art thieves are tasked with stealing The Grand Odalisque from the Louvre. The GN covers their prep for the heist and their recruiting of a needed third member to their gang. I liked the many action scenes, the story was fairly ok, there is emphasis on hookups, nudity etc to counter all the action and some of this I could have done without. I also have the sequel, Olympia out from the library.
Bastien Vivès has been in the news of late for many bad reasons, I didn't realise this when I was requesting his GNs , several were on lists of best French GNs etc which is why I wanted to read them.

Here's two reviews of the book - one loves it, the other can only find fault -
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/feb/01/the-grande-odalisque-by-jerome-mul...
https://www.tcj.com/reviews/the-grande-odalisque/

Publisher blurb: 'Ruppert and Mulot, two of the most innovative comic creators in the world, team up with multiple Angouleme prize winner Bastien Vives to bring you this impossibly funny, violent, and sexy action-packed thriller'

The Horseman on the Roof by Jean Giono (1951 French) (1981 English)
fiction
This novel is a story of one man's experience of the 1830s cholera epidemic in Provence and is a daunting read as many deaths are described in vivid detail.
Angelo Pardo, a young Italian cavalryman is making his way through Provence when he finds himself in a nightmare of a cholera plague, his journey is suddenly one of peril with obstacles of quarantines and barricades. Angelo is a hero in so many ways, he is brave, resourceful and not afraid for himself, administers help where he can but always he is set upon continuing his journey. As he is a stranger wherever he goes he is always at risk of being considered a plague spreader by desperate and or paranoid townsfolk. Being put into quarantine is a death sentence.
The title comes from the days he spends in a largish town, living on the rooftops as on the ground so many are sick and dying and he is being hunted by those who want to blame him.

This was not the novel I was expecting as I cracked it open, but it was a very good read for all that. My first read of Jean Giono who also wrote the novella, The Man who Planted Trees, which I must look out for.
There are 7 books in the Le cycle du hussard series and this was #4 or 5. I'm not sure if they are all translated, but I have collected a few of Giono's books as I find them in used bookshops and will definitely read more by him.

Black Powder War by Naomi Novik (2007)
historical fantasy

Temeraire #3. Finally read another of these. Laurence, Temeraire and crew must make their way back to Europe from China. Lots of intrigue ending with Napoleon's attack on the Prussian army including the 1806 Battle of Jena–Auerstedt and the seige of Danzig though with dragons. The ending is quite delightful.
I'll keep going on this series, I want to read a couple more this year.

Finches by A.M. Muffaz (2021)
novella
This was a great creepy read, another novella I randomly pulled from the library shelves. Grandmother Jah wants to move back into the old house where her family grew up. Until recently it's been the home of her husband, his younger second wife and their newly born son until their deaths. The house is haunted with their ghosts and the old woman brings in first a nun and then the local bomoh (Malay shaman) to exorcise their presence.
The writing was quite beautiful, lovely descriptions of the neglected garden, the old house and its contents and then the malevolent presence of the dead souls.
Muffaz writes in her introduction that she wanted to write about Muslim polygamy and its effects on Malaysian families.

In the company of men by Véronique Tadjo (2017 French) (2021 English)
novella

Very impressive, a story of the Ebola epidemic of 2014, told from a multitude of voices both human and non-human.
Tardo is from Côte d'Ivoire and now based in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Highly recommended. This was one of a number of translated novellas I plucked from the library shelves on recent visits.
From a review: 'her latest novel in translation, In the Company of Men which draws on real accounts of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa of 2014 to weave a moving and reflective fable on “both the strength and the fragility of life and humanity’s place in the world”, acutely relevant to our times.' https://africainwords.com/2021/05/25/review-making-death-part-of-daily-life-vero...

Sea Change by Richard Armstrong (1948)
children's
Read for my ongoing challenge to read all the Carnegie Medal (UK) winners. This book won in 1948 and though dated is a wonderful read. Armstrong served in the Merchant Navy so was well experienced to write about life at sea.
Cam is an apprentice seaman going for a Second Mate's Certificate in seamanship and navigation. He's onto his second year and third voyage and this one will test his mettle, he's joining the crew on a small steamer taking cargo to the Caribbean and returning with a full load of Cuban sugar.
He gets off on to the wrong side of the ship's mate as he's resentful of being treated as a deckhand rather than an officer-in-training but this crew is all about old fashioned seamanship and knowing everything practical about running a ship at sea than just book learning in navigation and steering a ship.

And in keeping with life at sea I've just brought home The Saturday Evening Post Reader of Sea Stories from the library. Mainly I want to read H.E. Bates' novella The Cruise of the Breadwinner which is included in the volume.

While you were reading by Ali Berg & Michelle Kalus (2019)
romance
An unremarkable romance story set in literary Melbourne and targeting booklovers which is why I decided to borrow it. There are some fun parts in the book, a cute but fairly ferocious ferret and Bea's quest to find the person behind the insightful annotations throughout a book she's bought at a local used bookstore.
The barista writes book quotes on Bea's coffee cups, Bea starts organising blind date with a book events, and also has a bookstagram account. She took her marketing job because the agency handled the Melbourne Writers Festival account but Bea is not one of the cool team and is stuck working on a toothpaste account.

The co-authors founded 'Books on Rails', a Melbourne based movement to leave books on public transport for strangers to pick up. They've co-written two other novels and I saw mention of them on twitter and decided to try one. I love the title of their first book, The Book Ninja.
At the back of While you were reading there is a list of all the books mentioned in the novel which is a helpful touch, also they give credit to several of their favourite bookstagram accounts so you can look those up if you are into social media.

>37 avatiakh: Bloodlust and Bonnets is on my TBR, so I'm glad to see you liked it!

>248 A fun read

Emily Noble's Disgrace by Mary Paulson-Ellis (2021)
crime

I enjoyed this, a good entertaining story and want to read more by the author. It's set in the seaside Edinburgh suburb of Portobello. Essie works for a specialist cleaning company and this time they are called in to clear an old seafront boarding house. The owner died two years ago but no one had noticed as the house was full of hoarded rubbish. Essie would like to uncover the secrets of her own past as she steals small items that speak to her on these cleaning jobs. And then there's Emily Noble, disgraced policewoman who won't acknowledge the secrets from her past. The old boarding house holds secrets of its own.

Not sure how I came across this one, maybe just a lucky library find.

>45 avatiakh: I'm taking a BB for In the Company of Men. One of my local libraries has the original French version and if it's not too difficult a read, I might try reading in that language.

>45 avatiakh: I hope you can manage it in French. I enjoyed this distinct look at ebola.

My son informed me this afternoon that one of his ex-band mates and family lost their home at Karekare Beach during the cyclone last week. His story is quite harrowing to read.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/cyclone-gabrielle-parents-cling-onto-children-as-h...

Karekare Beach is where The Piano was filmed and one of Auckland's western beaches along with the communities at Muriwai and Piha which were also hit quite badly by the cyclone.

You can view Nick singing with the band, Essential Tremor (my son is playing lead guitar) from back when they were performing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61j7I7lRU1M

>52 avatiakh: That is terrible news. I've been mostly avoiding the news for weeks, so I wasn't even aware of this cyclone. I hope you're safe?

Half my Life by Diana Noonan (2020)
YA
This starts off in Wellington, New Zealand where a small contingent of Greek families settled in the 1950s. Most Greek migrant families went to Melbourne in Australia and many went into the restaurant & food trade.
16 yr old Katy has a Greek father who runs a fish and chip shop, he's always been remote and doesn't speak to her, her mother is also not showing her affection. Not surprising then that Katy has anxiety issues and is seeing a therapist.
Then there is a letter from her uncle, her grandmother is dying, they should come. It will be the first time her father has been back since he left Greece when he was only 17, he's an older father and already in his 50s. The three weeks in Greece change Katy's outlook on herself, her family and everything starts to make sense once family secrets become clear.

I enjoyed this, I usually steer clear of YA angst novels but Noonan is a seasoned YA writer. In the notes it says that for the past thirty years she has spent part of the year living in Greece, the rest of the time she lives in the Caitlins which is one of the most southern points in New Zealand.
This novel was interesting covering the plight of Albanians in Greece, what has happened since the waves of migrants have arrived in Greece etc etc. The Greek village that Katy goes to is in the north on the coast and right near the Albanian border. Family feuds that last generations and the civil war against the communists also come up.

I saw this one on the shelves at a bookshop and the Greek setting was too good to not request it from the library.

City of Spies by Mara Timon (2020)
fiction
A WW2 espionage thriller and an easy read. An Englishwoman who has been working undercover for the French Resistance has to flee the country. She ends up in Lisbon and is given a new identity as a rich French widow. Her role is to investigate the German military personnel who are part of the elite society of foreign nationals.
I'll look out for the sequel.

Olympia by Jérôme Mulot, Florent Ruppert, Bastien Vivès (2015 French) (2022 English)
graphic novel

This is the sequel to The Grande Odalisque. The trio of female art thieves are back again. While I find much of the banter between the characters over the top, I do enjoy the ingenious schemes they have for stealing major artworks.

The Man who Planted Trees by Jean Giono (1954)
short story

One that leaves an impact on the reader. The writer goes walking in the hills of Provence before WW1 and in an isolated, bleak area with no water and an abandoned hamlet he comes across a shepherd who spends his days planting acorns. On a return trip after the war he finds that many of these acorns have managed to grow into young trees and these trees, the start of a forest' have began to change the ecosystem of the bare barren area. Eventually after forty years the shepherd, now an old man has managed through his tree planting to change the land into a productive area that now supports the rejuvenated village.
Also delightful are the wood engravings by Michael McCurdy that accompany the story which was originally published in Vogue.

Monastery by Eduardo Halfon (2014)
stories
Another interesting collection of stories told by the author/narrator as he wanders around the world, first to Jerusalem for his sister's wedding to an Orthodox Jew which he is considering not attending as he grapples with the city, his sister & brother-in-law's religious fraternity and a chance meeting with an old flame.
In another story he arrives to Belize and his borrowed car breaks down at the border, leaving him at the mercy of the locals.
I read his Canción last year which is written in a similar style.

Stone Sky Gold Mountain by Mirandi Riwoe (2020)
historical fiction
I really enjoyed this and will continue to read this author who also writes under her real name of M.J. Tjia. I came across her excellent novella, The Fish Girl, a few years back.
This starts off in a Queensland goldfield, we meet young siblings Ying and Lai Yue who have fled China to find their fortune in Australia, but life is unfair for most. Ying is a girl disguised as a boy for her own safety and when their fortunes on the goldfield decline they move on to Maytown where she gets employed at a Chinese grocer. While she befriends a young white woman, her brother takes on work as a carrier on an overland expedition.

The Lucky Galah by Tracy Sorensen (2018)
fiction
Another enjoyable read, though nothing startling. Firstly this is narrated by a galah, a native Australian parrot. It's mostly set in a small coastal backwater in Western Australia, a small town going backwards in the 1960s but chosen as the site for a satellite dish to help with the 1969 moon landing. Technicians and their families arrive and become part of the local community for a time. The narration by the galah turns out to be one of the highlights of reading this which surprised me and perhaps will spur me on to tackle Catherine Chidgey's The Axeman Carnival.

Extraordinary People by Peter May (2006)
crime
Published in the US as Dry Bones. The Enzo Files #1. Underwhelming for a number of reasons. Firstly May's preoccupation with the breasts of the female student that Enzo takes on as an assistant. In depth details of Enzo's bedroom encounters with another character. Then there's the plot, the murderers' mastermind plot simply falls apart when they haven't taken into account the rise of Google as a search engine in the ten year's lapse between their foolproof plotting of a murder with Da Vinci Code-like clues and Enzo solving the cold case as a bet.
I might try the second in this series as it's set in France with a relocated Scottish forensic expert, so interesting mentions of small French towns and unusual tidbits of French history. I've never heard before the French word 'sejours' which gets trotted out fairly often in the text, I had to look it up as I expected some form of enclosed balcony, but it just means living room, I'm more au fait with 'salon' for living room.
The only decent character in all this is Bertrand, Enzo's daughter's boyfriend as he proves himself over and over as a fairly capable guy despite Enzo's initial disproval.

The Little Match Girl Strikes Back by Emma Carroll & Lauren Child (illustrator) (2022)
children
A retelling of Hans Christian Andersen's 1845 Little Match Girl story, this time with some social justice. It's 1885 and Bridie sells matches on the street while her mother works at the match factory and little brother Fergal assembles matchboxes at home instead of attending school. The conditions at the match factory are horrendous, playing havoc to the women's health. After a mishap, Bridie has three strikes from the last three matches she holds and from the visions she has, realises that the only way the factory owner will improve the conditions is for the women to stop working and protest.

The Minstrel and the Dragon Pup by Rosemary Sutcliff (1993)
illustrated story
This was mentioned on 75Books LT group January's British Author Challenge thread and I requested it from the library at the time. It's a delightful tale about a wandering minstrel who happens on a dragon egg just as it's hatching. Illustrated by Emma Chichester Clark.

>63 avatiakh: I have never heard of this before. Sounds delightful, I hope I can find this.

>55 avatiakh: Taking a BB for City of Spies!

Crushing the red flowers by Jennifer Voigt Kaplan (2019)
children's
Thoughtful novel that looks at German attitudes in the late 1930s leading up to Kristallnacht. Kaplan writes about two families & their two 12 yr old sons, one is Jewish and the other is in the Jungvolk (13 yr olds enter Hitler Youth). Emil's family are trying hard to get exit visas and in 1938 it is difficult unless you have sponsors in the country that you plan to travel to.
Friedrich's parents seem to be hardline Hitler supporters and his evenings with the Jungvolk are becoming harder and harder to sit through, but to survive amongst his school friends, he must stop questioning their behaviours, life will be easier if he just goes along with it all.
The two boys become acquainted at a secluded riverbank, though they don't talk or become friends, they each wonder about the other.

>64 MissWatson: It is rather sweet.

>65 christina_reads: There are better novels on this subject, but this one is an easy read which is always welcome.

The Calling by Fleur Beale (2021)
YA
It's 1895 and Molly must decide if she really has a calling to God or if it was just her dying mother's wish for her to become a nun. Life becomes unbearable when her father remarries, so Molly leaves home for the mission at Jerusalem on Wanganui River and lives with the Sisters of Compassion led by Mother Mary Joseph Aubert. Eventually she must return home and once again decide her path in life.
Highly enjoyable historical fiction that has a focus on the work of the extraordinary nun, Mother Mary Joseph Aubert.
https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/2a18/aubert-mary-joseph

Where the world ends by Geraldine McCaughrean (2018)
children's
Carnegie Medal (UK) 2018. Another book done for my ongoing challenge to read Carnegie Medal winners. Based on a true story, it's 1727 on the St Kilda island of Hirta where 8 boys and a few men are off to the nearby rocky sea stack called the Warrior Stac where for a few summer weeks they harvest the puffins and other birds for their oil, fat and feathers. The weeks slip by and no-one appears to take them home and they must survive for months, through a bleak winter into spring with no knowledge of what has gone wrong back on Hirta.
This is a compelling survival story.
Hirta itself is such a bleak island in the north of Scotland that no trees grow there, the islanders demanded in the 1930s to be relocated as life became unbearable.

http://mountainandseascotland.blogspot.com/2011/06/warriors-stack.html'

Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine by Gail Honeyman (2017)
fiction
I read this in one sitting, not something I do that often. Highly enjoyable read about Eleanor overcoming her past. I can understand the novel's popularity now.

Meredith, alone by Claire Alexander (2022)
fiction
Another debut novel set in Glasgow and featuring a main character who is also not fine. Meredith hasn't left her house in almost 4 years. She's about to turn 40 and decides to welcome a volunteer from the Holding Hands organisation into her house for one hour each week.
This was an OK read about depression and surviving abuse, not my favourite topics for a novel.

Death in Shangri La by Yigal Zur (2011 Hebrew) (2018 English)
fiction
Interesting adventure read set mostly in India. Terrorists strike in the Kashmir region in a Mumbai style attack of Israeli backpackers. One honeymoon couple have their houseboat hijacked. Ex Shin-bet agent Dotan Naor arrives to investigate the killing of his acquaintance, an Israeli arms dealer. Naor knows the local Indian culture of the region very well.


Passport to Death by Yigal Zur (2011 Hebrew) (2019 English)
fiction
Dotan Naor #2. Only two in the series, or only two translated to English at least. Naor comes to Bangkok to find a missing Israeli woman but this one seems tied to people from his own past. This is a trip into the extremely seedy side of Bangkok and and the nasty cesspit young backpackers can fall into. I've enjoyed the two Dotan Naor books, they expose a gritty realistic view of two exotic destinations.

400 Days by Chetan Bhagat (2021)
crime
Part-time detectives Keshav & Saurabh take on a cold case, a young girl abducted from her home almost a year earlier. Her mother seems to be the only one still interested in finding her, the police have closed the case and her in-laws say that the family should move on.
Once you get used to the writing style this was quite a good read.

The Writer's Cats by Muriel Barbery ((2020)
illustrated story
Delightful tale of the writer's cats as told by one of them. Four grey Chatreuse cats live with the writer and her musician husband. They feel that they contribute greatly to the writer's literary career and want to be acknowledged, hence the book. Lovely cute illustrations throughout by Maria Guitart.

The Little Bookroom by Eleanor Farjeon (1955)
stories for children
Winner of the Carnegie Medal (UK) 1955. This is a delightful collection of stories that I should have read years ago but never did. I have read her memoir, A nursery in the nineties which tells of her childhood.

Tokyo Rose: Zero Hour: A Japanese American Woman's Persecution and Ultimate Redemption After World War II by Andre R Frattino (2022)
graphic biography
I asked my library to purchase this GN after reading Suzanne's comments on it. This tells the story of Iva Toguri, a Japanese-American, who was the 'notorious' Tokyo Rose that hosted Zero Hour during the war. She is branded a traitor after the war, imprisoned and never saw her husband, a Filipino-Japanese ever again. The real story only came out in the 1970s when she received a Presidential pardon.
Well worth a read.

But I live: Three Stories of Child Survivors of the Holocaust edited by Charlotte Schallié (2022)
graphic novel
This is an interesting project. Three illustrators and writers are matched with four child Holocaust survivors (2 are brothers). Through a series of interviews, their stories of survival are told in bold graphic styles, with the past mingling with their present day activity.
The last pages of the books goes over the stories of these survivors in more detail and there is also a graphic portrayal of the project itself.

Wrath by Marcus Sedgwick (2022)
YA
This is published by Barrington Stoke and is for dyslexic readers, so while the layout and word choice is simple, the story itself is for older readers. A girl has gone missing just as Covid lockdowns are ending. She was one of the few who can hear the Earth hum. Her friend Fitz must use the clues to find her as the police don't seem to be getting anywhere and her parents are always arguing about climate change issues. The title of the book concerns Scotland's Cape Wrath - wikipedia: 'The name Cape Wrath is derived from Old Norse hvarf ("turning point"), accordingly, wrath is pronounced /ˈræθ/ (a as in cat), Vikings are believed to have used the cape as a navigation point where they would turn their ships.'
So sad that Sedgwick died last year at only 54yrs. I've read most of his books and must get on and read the last few.

Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys (2016)
YA historical

Carnegie Medal (UK) Winner 2017. Took me a long while to get to this one but was well worth the wait. It's 1945 and refugees are making their way to north Poland's ports trying to get there before the Russian army overtakes them. There are ships ready to take them to safety.
Recommended. I have her latest, I must betray you on my tbr pile.

No hero for the Kaiser by Rudolf Frank (1931 German) (1983 English)
children's
This children's book was one of those burnt by Nazis in 1933. It's an anti-war book, the author fled to Switzerland in 1933 and lived there till his death in 1979. When the book was republished in Germany in the 1970s it won several awards.
Jan is adopted into a German battalion when he and his dog are all that's left alive in a small Polish hamlet after a bitter exchange between Russians and Germans in 1914. It's beneficial for both Jan and the soldiers as while he gets fed and friendship, the soldiers get an observant helper who saves them a number of times, even the dog, Flox, plays his part.

Anxious People by Fredrik Backman (2020)
fiction
This is my 5th book read for the annual bookpool challenge for NZ readers over on GR. I really enjoy participating in this challenge each year. This time we had a large pool of books to choose to read from.

This is about a bank robbery gone wrong that results in a group of people at an apartment viewing being held hostage. It's a fun comfort read with a bunch of oddball characters.

The Bride Test by Helen Hoang (2019)
romance
I got this out from the library after browsing the romance shelves. Thin pickings for me there and I won't try again. This one was a little too hot and saucy for me and that left not much of a plot. Vietnamese Esme agrees to spend the summer in California. Recruited by his mother, her role is to get autistic Khai Diep to fall in love with her, marriage would be the ultimate success.

The Beginners by Anne Serre (2021)
fiction
I read Serre's novella, The Governesses earlier in the year and wanted to immerse myself again in her writing. This one starts out quite well though I lost interest towards the end. A woman after twenty years of a passionate and loving relationship with her partner, falls in love at first sight with another man. She loves both men, but differently, and much of the book is about her dilemma of whether she should leave her current relationship or not.

The Pawnbroker by Edward Lewis Wallant (1961)
fiction
Powerful story about a Holocaust survivor. I loved Wallant's writing style and am a little annoyed that I returned the book back to the library as it was overdue and forgot to read the forward by Dara Horn.
Sol runs a pawnbroking shop in 1950s East Harlem. Every day his life is pain as he has repressed all his feelings and never processed the grief of losing his family in the camps. Through his haunting dreams, the reader discovers the tragedy of his loss.

Different for Boys by Patrick Ness (2023)
YA
A sensitive story. Ant has been doing lots of bedroom stuff with Charlie though they've never kissed. Has he lost his virginity yet? He's not sure what counts when it's between two boys. At school, Charlie is extremely confrontational and angry towards their friend Jack who acts quite camp. Ness is quite the master at tackling these issues between these boys. The pencil illustrations by Tea Bendix are quite fitting for the book.
This is not a wordy book and the writing is just right. Ness uses black boxes for all the swearing and it's quite fun to try and figure out what the boys are saying in those passages.
A good review here: https://berliedoherty.com/different-for-boys-patrick-ness/

Conviction by D. A. Mishani (2022 English) (2021 Hebrew)
crime
Avi Avraham #4. Two unrelated cases crop up for police inspector Avraham. A Swiss tourist has gone missing from his hotel and a newborn baby has been found abandoned near to a hospital.
Enjoyable Israeli crime writing that quietly gets the job done.
I'm now up to date in this series.

The Rose Revived by Katie Fforde (1995)
romance
This was a comfort type read that Suzanne (chatterbox) reread recently and became a BB for me. Three young women all urgently needing well paid work, turn up for interviews at a cleaning agency. May lives on a canal boat and has hefty mooring fees overdue, Harriet has finally runaway from her overbearing grandparents, and Sally needs to earn enough to pay for a new flat so she can leave her hostile boyfriend behind.

Book Lovers by Emily Henry (2022)
romance
Slightly entertaining story set around books, publishing and bookstores. I've waited ages in the library queue for this book. Nora is a workaholic literary agent and a New Yorker through and through. Her sister insists on taking her to a small country town near Ashville NC for a summer vacation

Some good reads here! I really enjoyed both Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine and Salt to the Sea.

>83 avatiakh: The Governesses looks interesting and strange.

Found it on KoboPlus.

>89 christina_reads: Oh yes, both those were great reads.

>90 pamelad: I adored The Governesses, it was quite different and very French.

I had two DNFs in the past few weeks -
The Dog of the North by Elizabeth McKenzie (2023) - gave up after 50 pages.

Mum & Dad by Joanna Trollope (2020) - gave this 50 pages and decided it wasn't for me. I picked it off the library shelves thinking that a book set in Spain's Andalusia would be a good read, but it's about family relationships and the adult children got on my nerves as soon as each one was introduced.

>91 avatiakh: Loved The Governesses. Thank you!

Sadie on a plate by Amanda Elliot (2022)
romance
DNF - another bust. I don't usually read chick lit so it has to be fairly convincing to get me past the first few pages. Sadie ends up on a cooking competition show, her speciality is modern takes on Jewish traditional cooking. I thought it might be fun to read a romance set around a reality cooking show but I only lasted 40 or 50 pages, looked at all the books I'm surrounded by and thought I can do better.


The Garden of Words by Makoto Shinkai
manga
A strange little story. A high school boy skips class to sit in a corner of a park. He meets a young woman who also seems to be taking time out, she reads him a poem and becomes his muse for his shoe making designs. Better than it sounds.

She and her cat by Makoto Shinkai
manga
This and the manga above have been adapted from Shinkai's writing. This is about a young woman who lives alone with her cat. Another quiet story that details a daily life.
I have Shinkai's short story collection with the same title out from the library so should try to read it sooner.

Barefoot Gen: A Cartoon Story of Hiroshima, Volume 1 by Keiji Nakazawa
manga
A while since I read this now. It definitely deserves its place in the canon of Hiroshima books and I'm really pleased that my library bought this replacement copy so users can read from volume 1 in this series again.

The Car Share by Zoe Brisby (2017)
fiction
A light entertaining read that didn't charm me as it could have. An old woman books a car share ride to Belgium. She leaves her retirement village home and jumps in a car owned and driven by a depressed young man. Misreading her actions, this car share ride is considered an abduction by police, media and the leadership of her retirement village. Meanwhile the oddball couple are driving through the countryside, having adventures with each hoping to change the other's life.

Broken Strings by Eric Walters & Kathy Kacer (2019)
children's
I enjoyed this, I'm a fan of the musical, Fiddler on the Roof, and this tells a Holocaust story that is brought to light around the staging of the musical at a New Jersey school soon after 9/11.

Victorious by Yishai Sarid (2022)
fiction
Quite a provocative read. The main character is a military psychologist whose life seems dedicated to turning soldiers into killing machines. Her ability to dedicate her professional life to lecturing the military leadership falters somewhat when her own son signs up for an elite paratrooper unit. Her father was also a psychologist but abhorred his daughter's dedication to the army. A great follow up to The Memory Monster.

Eight Perfect Hours by Lia Louis (2021)
romance
A chicklit read that sound good on the premise but did nothing much for me. Two strangers share a car for eight hours during a snow storm that stops all traffic on a highway. They have a connection but it takes the rest of the book for them to realise their lives are more linked than they first thought.
I'm not the target audience for these light romances, I keep trying them as I want to read something happy.

Hotel Pastis by Peter Mayle (1993)
fiction
A light entertaining read. It's dated and while I find it amusing to read these books that don't date well, others might be more irritated with the treatment female characters receive at the author's pen. Anyway, a successful London-based advertising executive takes the plunge to create a boutique hotel in the middle of rural Provence by renovating an old building.

The Best Thing That Can Happen to a Man Is to Get Lost by Alain Guillot (2023)
fiction
I noticed this Europa Edition book at Unity Books and requested it from the library. I'm into reading road trip novels and this title made it look like a fun read.... Anything but, was how I found it. A man having a middle age crisis is not my idea of entertaining reading, and this book just didn't seem to have a point.

Esther's Notebooks: Tales from my ten-year-old life by Riad Sattouf (2021)
graphic novel
I loved Sattouf's Arab of the Future books, I think I've read three of them, so I dived into this one with high expectations. Highly enjoyable vignettes from a ten year old girl's daily life. The illustration style is so fun, the characters are mostly working class Parisian from a variety of backgrounds.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/apr/01/riad-sattouf-the-real-girl-who-nar...

Why we took the car by Wolfgang Herrndorf (2010 German) (2014 English)
YA
I loved this one. An oddball couple of 14 year olds take off on a road trip in a stolen Lada and have a bunch of weird adventures on the way. Mike feels like the most boring kid in his class while Tschick is a delinquent Russian refugee, together they become a team.

The Ancient Magus' Bride vol 1 by Kore Yamazaki
manga
My daughter has flown through the first 6-10 in the series while I've take weeks to read the first volume. Quite engaging and I would read on except that I have the Berserk vol. 1 omnibus home from the library and she liked that one as well.
A young orphan girl is sold as a slave to an unusual mage. Her life becomes interesting with interactions with magic and dragons but then the mage is expecting her to marry him as well as become his apprentice.

>95 avatiakh: I’ve been really enjoying A Man and His Cat, so I think I’ll have to check out She and Her Cat as well!

>106 rabbitprincess: there is something about those Japanese cat books!

One Enchanted Evening by Katie Fforde (2023)
chick lit
A predictable romance story that was an easy enjoyable read. We meet Meg and eventually her two friends who have both had their moments in previous books. This is a 'trilogy' that I've ended up reading in reverse. Meg goes to a rural hotel to help out her mum as most of the staff have left when the owner must travel to France.

She and her cat: stories by Makoto Shinkai (2022 Eng)
fiction
Annoying that this LT booklink includes the graphic novel as well as Shinkai's book. This was a lovely read about three young women and their cats, they all live near to each other and both them and their cats are linked in different ways.
I've also read the graphic novel of the same name earlier this year, Tsubasa Yamaguchi is the illustrator.

5 Centimeters per Second by Makoto Shinkai (2007)
manga
Possibly the anime is more well known than the manga. It's been a while since I read this but I remember enjoying it as I read it. Two school kids are just beginning a friendship that could lead to a love match, but one has to move to another city with their family. They exchange letters but grow apart and while their lives move on, they each wonder what could have been.

Spy x Family vol.1 by Tatsuya Endo (2020)
manga
Waited ages for this from the library and just picked up vol. 2 this week. A fun read about a spy, very successful in his field but his next mission means going undercover as a family to infiltrate a school. After a few blunders he unwittingly ends up with a fairly lethal 'wife' and a telepathic 'daughter' and together they make an awesome team.

Berserk deluxe edition vol.1 by Kentaro Miura
manga
A well known manga that didn't do much for me. My daughter really enjoyed this but my preference woud be for Vagabond. This is a combo of the first three volumes and I'll leave it there and not continuing this horror filled nightmare.

A wedding in Provence by Katie Fforde (2022)
chick lit
The second book about the three friends who met at a cooking school in London. The books are set in the 1960s and this one is about Alexandra who jumps at the chance to take a temporary position as governess in a rundown chateau rather than going to live with her boring Swiss relatives. Love blossoms of course, but this was delightful with the children stealing the show. Probably my favourite of the three books.

A ceiling made of eggshells by Gail Carson Levine (2021)
children
A very interesting read about the lead up to the expulsion of Jews from Spain.
Loma, a young Jewish girl who is approaching the age for marriage, is taken by her grandfather on his travels. He is one of the men from the Jewish community who negotiate with the court and their Highnesses, Isabella & Ferdinand. He hopes that the presence of his grand daughter will soften the hearts of their Majesties.
Levine's father changed his name from Carasso to Carson when he arrived in the USA, and she has always been interested in the heritage of her family, Turkish Sephardi Jews.
An interview with Levine about writing the book:
https://jewishjournal.com/culture/326439/a-middle-grade-book-on-the-1492-expulsi...

The Apothecary Diaries vol. 6 by Natsu Hyuuga (2022)
manga
My favourite manga series. Maomao is quite the sleuth and solves mysteries around the palace. She is now under the protection of the mysterious Jinshi who she believes is a eunuch due to misunderstandings when they first met.

Running with Ivan by Suzanne Leal (2023)
YA
A time slip novel that takes Leo from his Australian modern-day home to Prague and Jewish Ivan as WW2 is about to happen. I warmed to this as I got further into the book, and it has a good ending. Leal was inspired to write this book after hearing stories about Theresienstadt camp from her elderly landlord.

A wedding in the country by Katie Fforde (2021)
chick lit
The first about the three friends. Set in the 1960s this covers their time at the cooking school and how they come to live in Alexandra's London home. The romance this time is for Lizzie who is escaping from her parents, especially her mother, who want to see her married off to a suitable man. Light but enjoyable.

Going Dutch by Katie Fforde (2007)
chick lit
My last Fforde read, can't take too many of these predictable reads though the attraction here is that the women come to live on a barge in London. This was quite a nice read as there are two romances, one for Dora who has run away from a wedding that she realises she never really wanted and the other for Jo, the recently divorced mother of Dora's best friend.

Murder in the Marais by Cara Black (1999)
crime
Aimee Leduc Investigations #1. Not sure how I came to this series. There's been a murder in the Marais of an old woman and it links back into the murky past of collaborators and betrayal when the Jews of the Marais are being rounded up for transportation to the camps. I enjoyed meeting Aimee Leduc and will read more. The ending is rather over the top but quite spectacular so all was forgiven.

The Midnight Babies by Isabel Greenberg (2023)
picturebook
I've enjoyed Greenberg's graphic novels so was excited to see her new picturebook. It's a delightful story about the babies who refuse to go to sleep.

The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies by Alison Goodman (2023)
fiction
The Ill-Mannered Ladies #1. I loved this, a Regency adventure featuring two spinsterish sisters. Augusta (Gus) has never married and has now reached the ripe old age of 42, while her twin sister lost her fiancee in a riding accident and has never really recovered. They spend their time helping friends out of difficult circumstances. On route to their latest escapade they are held up by a highwayman who ends up helping them.

A Boy, His Dog and the Sea by Anthony Browne (2023)
picturebook

I noticed that Browne had a new book out, I haven't seen his work for some years. Not sure if it does anything for me. The boy goes to the beach to play with his dog. The dog ends up rescuing the boy's brother in the sea. The book is getting praise but all I got was alarm bells - who lets their boys 1) go to the beach alone with a dog 2) go swimming in the sea on their own

The girl with the red balloon by Kathryn Locke (2017)
YA
This book held up my reading last month as I took forever to read it and it was my TIOLI challenge pick so I didn't want to ditch it.
A time travel story. Ellie travels from modern day Berlin to 1988 East Berlin, a few months before the Wall comes down. There is a group using magic and red balloons to get people across the Wall. She realises that the first traveller was her grandfather when he was taken out of a train bound for Auschwitz. But now apart from the problem of getting Ellie back to the future, there is sabotage within the group.

Feels Like Home: A Song for the Sonoran Borderlands by Linda Rondstadt & Laurence Downes, Bill Steen (photographer) (2022)
nonfiction
Can't count this as I read very little text. The photographs are beautiful, there's songs, recipes and stories of Ronstadt's childhood. A lovely book.

Queens Of An Alien Sun by Peter F. Hamilton
scifi
Arkship trilogy #3. My first audiobook for the year. I've been listening to musicmost of the time.
This was another great adventure that wrapped up an enjoyable scifi trilogy. 500 years into the Arkship's voyage to the New World and there's a battle to be won against the aliens who've hijacked the flight.

Traced by Catherine Jinks (2023)
crime
This was another good read that I'd waited ages for my library to get. Jane does contact tracing during the Covid epidemic. She's talking to a possible contact when she realises that the woman's fiancee is the man that Jane and her daughter have spent years undercover to escape from. Really well done with alternating chapters covering the back story leading to her daughter's escape and the present day as they hope that he hasn't found them.

House on Endless Waters by Emunah Elon (2016 Hebrew) (2022 Eng)
fiction
A really good read. A successful Israeli writer has always been told by his mother to never visit Holland, the country of his birth. After she passes he accepts an invitation to a literary event in Amsterdam and then on a visit to the Jewish Museum he sees a pre WW2 image of his mother with a baby that calls for explanations that his older sister can provide only from her childhood memories. He decides to write his next novel in Amsterdam and the narrative then alternates between his time there and his interpretation of the past as he writes notes for his novel.
The descriptions of Amsterdam and its many museums and art galleries is very evocative. The back story is compelling covering the treatment of Dutch Jews during the war.
I have another novel by Elon on my kindle app and will definitely have to read it soon.

Spy x Family vol. 2 by Tatsuya Endo (2019)
manga
The fun continues as the 'family' continues on with the mission involving the elite Eden Academy where Anya has been admitted as a student. There's a side story bonus featuring a vist to an aquarium, it's meant to be a family outing to impress their neighbours but Twilight gets given a job to do involving a penguin and microfilm.
This is a fun series, I won't continue reading it but have enjoyed these first two volumes.

Twice Shy by Sarah Hogle (2021)
romance
Underwhelming read. I kept on reading for no reason. When Maybell inherits her late aunt's rundown mansion in the Smoky Mountains she finds out on arrival that there is a catch. Her aunt has only made her a co-inheritor, the other being the gardener that has lived there for several years. Both have people problems, Wesley suffers from extreme social anxiety while Maybell doesn't know how to stand up for herself.
I wanted to read a book set in Tennessee and there were slim pickings at my library. I have The Reivers on my kindle app so will give that a spin soon.

The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka (2011)
novella
I've been slow reading this for some weeks even though it is a novella. Mostly read when I was out. Anyway I really enjoyed the writing style of including collective experiences to describe the lives of Japanese 'picture' brides who came to the US between the two World Wars. Their grooms were mostly not the men they expected - flowery letters had been written by others, photos were of them or not, but of much younger specimens.


Rizzio by Denise Mina (2021)
novella
Darkland Tales #1. 'Scottish authors focus on a historical event and view it through a modern lens.' Mina chooses to tell the tale of the 1566 murder of Rizzio, the Secretary to Mary, Queen of Scots. Quite a bloody tale that at first I had to put down due to the details of his death.

Gidget by Frederick Kohner (1957)
fiction
Had this one on the pile for a long while. The story is based on the real life of Kohner's 15 yr old daughter who became surf-mad and then a little boy crazy during a Malibu summer. While dated it is a worthwhile read if you remember Sally Field in the tv series or have seen the Sandra Lee film. Worth a mention is Richard Dreyfus playing Durf the Drag "Ego-a-Go-Go" in the tv series, must be one of his early outings as an actor.
Lots of slang and memorable nicknames in the book. Gidget is a short form of girl midget, a nickname she earns on the first day hanging out with the surf bums.
I enjoyed this and it reminded me of the summer I spent hanging out with my surfie boyfriend at Raglan on NZ's west coast and also Whangamata on the east coast.

An update on my reading since I haven't posted much about books since the end of August. I was away from home for three months.

A cup of tea by Amy Ephron
The Honey Siege by Gil Buhet
Fragments: memories of a wartime childhood by Binjamin Wilkomirski
The Evening of the Holiday by Shirley Hazzard
Clash of Civilizations over an Elevator in Piazza Vittorio by Amara Lakhous
The Jew Store by Stella Suberman
Three Scoops by David Hill
The Cat and the Devil by James Joyce
The Mermaid from Jeju by Sumi Hahn
The Last of the Just by André Schwarz-Bart
The Sheepfarmer's daughter by Elizabeth Moon
Chasing the King of Hearts by Hanna Krall
I have lived a thousand years by Livia Bittern-Jackson
Tokyo Express by Seichō Matsumoto
Divided Allegiance by Elizabeth Moon
Oath of Gold by Elizabeth Moon
Guide to the Jewish Ghetto of Rome
A Cat at Dachau by Elyse Hoffman
Diary of a Lonely Girl by Miriam Karpilove
My Father's Son by Frank O'Connor
Offside by Manuel Vazquez Montalban
Thraxas and the Ice Dragon Thraxas #9 by Martin Millar
Thraxas and the Oracle Thraxas #10 by Martin Millar
Thraxas of Turai Thraxas #11 by Martin Millar
Thraxas meets his enemies Thraxas #12 by Martin Millar
Pet by Catherine Chidgey

A cup of tea by Amy Ephron (1997)
From memory, this was more of a novella, set in 1917 New York it was inspired by a Katherine Mansfield short story. I enjoyed this story of two different women and how their fates become entwined around one man.


The Honey Siege by Gil Buhet (1952)
fiction
Rather entertaining French novel about stolen honey and upset bee hives. The school teacher insists that it is the work of some of his pupils though they deny any part of it. They insist on their innocence and the teacher insists on their guilt and in the end the boys take over the ruined fort in the centre of the village, close the gate and refuse to come out.
Had this one on my shelves for a long while.


Fragments: memories of a wartime childhood by Binjamin Wilkomirski (1995)
Holocaust memoir

Very sad. Wilkomirski was only a toddler when the Nazis came to his home so his war memories are like fragments. His first one is of seeing his father shot by the Nazis outside his home, then hiding with older boys, his brothers. He's separated from them, spends time in camps, is rescued by a nurse who knows who he is and smuggles him to Switzerland in a group of refugee children. She abandons him at the train station and while all the other children have papers he has none and is taken to an orphanage. He doesn't even know that the war is over and he is now safe.
He learns part of his story from others as an adult.


The Evening of the Holiday by Shirley Hazzard (1966)
fiction

I bought this at Parnassus Books in Nashville. Worth a visit as besides having been opened by Anne Patchett, it has a really excellent selection of books. Due to my travels and airline luggage restrictions I could only pick out a novella sized read. It's about a love affair between an Italian and half English half Italian Sophie. They meet as they move in similar circles and their love is deep though short lived.

Later I found out from Lori that Nashville has other interesting bookshops.

Clash of Civilizations over an Elevator in Piazza Vittorio by Amara Lakhous (2006)
novella
Scattered but interesting read about the migrant community in Rome. There is an investigation into the murder of a tenant that entails finding the truth from the various people living in the building.


The Jew Store by Stella Suberman (1998)
fictionalised memoir
Interesting read for me from a family history pov. A branch of my husband's family ended up in Nashville running a clothing store in the early 20th century. This is similar, though Suberman's father and family are pushed from Nashville to a rural town in north Tenessee to start their 'jew store'.


Three Scoops by David Hill (2023)
short stories, children's fiction
Three excellent stories from New Zealand children's writer David Hill.
The first one is about a boy volunteering with his friends for the Boer War, his horse bolts as it is about to be loaded on the ship for the voyage to South Africa. So while Harry goes to fight, Blaze must try to find his way back to the farm. Pulls the heartstrings.
The second story is about a magical book-elf helping a boy settle into a new community.
The third story is about the launching of a space ship and a meteor on the pathway to Earth.


The Cat and the Devil by James Joyce (1936)
picturebook
I read this in Dublin at the Museum of Literature Ireland (MOLI) where there was a small selection of books to browse through in one section. Now I can say I've read something by Joyce! Based on a story in a 1936 letter to his grandson the picturebook first came out in the 1980s.


The Mermaid from Jeju by Sumi Hahn (2020)
fiction

Historical fiction set mostly on Jeju Island. This covers an interesting post WW2 period when the Japanese occupation ends and the US enters the arena. There are collaborators and betrayals and life for a young girl on the verge of womanhood is full of peril.
I've watched several K-dramas set on Jeju Island but never realised the recent history of the island was so devastating.

The Last of the Just by André Schwarz-Bart (1959)
fiction
A Holocaust novel that won the Prix Goncourt. The book opens in York, England with the massacre of Jews at Clifford Tower. I was able to visit the memorial when passing through York a couple of months ago. It follows the fortunes of the descendants of Rabbi Yom Tov Levy through the centuries to WW2. Quite a remarkable read though it took me time to get through it.


The Sheepfarmer's daughter by Elizabeth Moon (1988)
fantasy
The Deed of Paksenarrion #1. Really enjoyed this one and went on to read the other two in the trilogy almost immediately. Paksenarrion runs away from home and a marriage to a pigfarmer she doesn't want to become a soldier in a mercenary army.


Chasing the King of Hearts by Hanna Krall (2006)
fiction
I found this on the shelves at Strand Books in New York and left it with a used bookstore in Budapest. A Holocaust novel based on a survivor's story. The cover story is that Krall was commissioned to write the story but her work was rejected and so she proceeded to publish it as a novel. It's quite different from other Holocaust stories, one woman's desperate actions to save her husband from perishing in Auschwitz. The writing is very lyrical and I'm keen to read more of her work. I'd never come across her books before, so it was a lucky find.


I have lived a thousand years by Livia Bittern-Jackson (1997)
YA memoir
Another Holocaust book. This was a compelling story though I don't remember all the details now. I found the book in Barter Books, Alnwick in the UK and left it in a used bookstore in Budapest.
Bittern-Jackson was 13 when the small Jewish community in a rural Hungarian village are forced to leave and live in ghetto conditions in a nearby town. She ends up in Auschwitz, lucky to have been advised to lie about her age, and it is her that must save her mother rather than the other way around. Recommended.

Tokyo Express by Seichō Matsumoto (1958)
crime, novella
An intriguing murder whodunnit involving trains, timetables and alibis. I got my copy in London, at Waterstones Piccadilly which is the largest bookstore in Europe. I noted many books for future reading though this was my only purchase along with a tote bag. I slipped this novella into my luggage and crossed my fingers that Ryan Air wouldn't notice.


Divided Allegiance by Elizabeth Moon
Oath of Gold by Elizabeth Moon
fantasy
The Deed of Paksenarrion #2&3. Continues the entralling story of Paksenarrion. One of those fantasy trilogies that you just can't stop reading.

Guide to the Jewish Ghetto in Rome: The places, the history and the life of Roman Jews by Paul den Arend (2015)
travel guide
This was an inexpensive kindle purchase that covered the history of Jewish life in Rome through the ages and then pointed out the highlights of the area that was once the Jewish ghetto. I was lucky to walk through this area several times during my stay in Rome.
I also purchased Arend's Quick Guide to the Roman Forum which was another useful read.
Paul de Arend is from the Netherlands, studied history and was a travel guide in Rome for several years.


A Cat at Dachau by Elyse Hoffman (2023)
short story
A concentration camp story told from the POV of a German soldier that I found on kindle. Max is a brutal guard who doesn't see the Jewish inmates as human, yet when a cat crosses his path he becomes besotted with the creature. Eventually he realises that the cat was probably the pet of one of the inmates. Only worth reading as it was so short.


Diary of a Lonely Girl by Miriam Karpilove (1916-1918) (2019)
fiction
First published in Yiddish in serial form in di Varhayt and recently translated and republished in English. The book is about a woman who is suffering from unrequited love and is pursued by other men who like the idea of 'free love'.
Can't better the book description - 'Miriam Karpilove's novel offers a snarky, melodramatic criticism of radical leftist immigrant youth culture in early twentieth-century New York City. Squeezed between men who use their freethinking ideals to pressure her to be sexually available and nosy landladies who require her to maintain her respectability, the narrator expresses frustration at her vulnerable circumstances with wry irreverence. The novel boldly explores issues of consent, body autonomy, women's empowerment and disempowerment around sexuality, courtship, and politics.'

Not my type of read usually but Karpilov was a cousin of my husband's grandmother so the family connection makes this a must read for me. When we were in New York I had an appointment at the Centre for Jewish History, in the Reading Room. We were joined by Miriam's nephew, Michael, and his wife and went through 5 boxes of Miriam's correspondence and personal papers, including many family photographs and photographed almost everything. So we now have lots of material for family history research, though it is almost all in Yiddish. Still we are able to recognise some faces in the photographs.
I thought we might get thrown out of the Reading Room as Michael's wife was so boisterous, funny and irreverent. We also looked in on an exhibit, Palestinian Yiddish: A Look at Yiddish in the Land of Israel Before 1948. After we went to the nearby Hollywood Diner and spent a good 2 hours getting to know each other without the stress of being in the Reading Room.

The translator, Jessica Kirzane, has published two more Karpilove books.
Judith: A Tale of Love & Woe
A Provincial Newspaper and Other Stories


My Father's Son by Frank O'Connor
memoir
Autobiography #2. The first book covers O'Connor's childhood while this one is about his working life and continuing relationship with his parents. It covers his friendships with several Irish writers such as Yeats. Was interesting enough though I found it a slow read.
I found the book in a Dublin secondhand bookshop where i was determined to buy at least one Irish book. The Last Bookshop is one of those shops with piles of interesting books and browsing is a delight.


Offside by Manuel Vazquez Montalban (1988)
crime
Pepe Carvalho #14. Forced to read whichever ones I find in English. I found this in Venice when visiting the amazing Libreria Acqua Alta bookshop. There were a few books in English and I spotted this one.
Not my favourite Carvalho, this was set in the world of professional football and involved the buildup to the Barcelona Olympics at the start of the 1980s.

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Thraxas and the Ice Dragon Thraxas #9 by Martin Millar (2013)
Thraxas and the Oracle Thraxas #10 by Martin Millar (2015)
Thraxas of Turai Thraxas #11 by Martin Millar (2019)
Thraxas meets his enemies Thraxas #12 by Martin Millar (2022)
fantasy
Continuing my read of the Thraxas series and I'm now up to date and not sure if there'll be anymore. Good escapist undemanding reads that I relaxed with in Bangkok.


Pet by Catherine Chidgey (2023)
fiction
I liked this one about the teacher's pet. The buildup was really good and I was entertained right to the end. The new teacher is sophisticated and charming and everyone wants to be noticed by her and become her 'pet'.

The Ten Thousand Things by John Spurling (2014)
historical fiction

I got this book from helenoel in the 2016 Christmas Swap. She sent me 5 books from betterworldbooks and I've now read 3 of them. Slowly getting there. Will try for The sound of the sundial by Hana Andronikova next year.

This was quite a good read, set in the dying years of Mongol rule in China, it is narrated by a low level administrator who retires to focus on his love of painting, though gets dragged back into the politics and fighting. The descriptions of landscape paintings, the process of creating art is a compelling part of the book.

My brother Michael by Mary Stewart (1959)
fiction
I was drawn to the cover art on a series of Mary Stewart's book that have been republished fairly recently and hope to read some more of them.
This one is set in Greece around Delphi. It's post war and Camilla is visiting Athens but has run out of money when she is handed the keys to a rental car in a case of mistaken identity and all she has to do is deliver it to Simon in Delphi. Simon's brother, Michael had been undercover with the Greeks during the war and had lost his life. There was some mystery to be cleared up.
I enjoyed this even though it's a bit dated, lots of cigarettes being smoked etc, the descriptions of the landscape around Delphi were quite vivid.
The back story about the Greek partisans during the war was timely as I was reading about John Mulgan a New Zealander who went undercover in Crete during WW2 and requested John Mulgan and the Greek Left from the library last week. I'd added his book Report on Experience to the War Room booklist here on LT.

I've now started reading The Moonspinners which is also set in Greece

>139 avatiakh: I'm a Mary Stewart fan -- hope you continue to enjoy her books!

The Moon-spinners by Mary Stewart (1962)
fiction
This is set on Crete and is quite an adventure. I remember in the much distant past watching Hayley Mills in the film or I remember wooden boats at night and swimming and subterfuge. Anyway despite being a little dated I enjoyed reading this. The descriptions of the countryside surronding the remote coastal village are so vivid.
I'll keep reading her books but taking a break right now to do justice to my planned reading for January.

>140 christina_reads: As you can see I've managed another Stewart book before the year ended. I have Thornyhold and Nine Coaches Waiting lined up for next year.

>142 avatiakh: I really liked Nine Coaches Waiting! Hope you do too :)

>142 avatiakh: >143 rabbitprincess: Yup, Nine Coaches Waiting is one of my faves as well!