Book vs. Film: On Chesil Beach

Book. Because –

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Bookish (and not so bookish) Thoughts

01. I took my daughter to the Katy Perry Witness concert last week. As always, Perry was FUN, energetic, and wearing amazing costumes. Highlights: the staging for Swish Swish and the eighties South Beach vibe for her Teenage Dream set (bad pics but you get the idea).

Six Degrees of Separation – from Atonement to Bitter Orange

It’s time for #6degrees. Start at the same place as other wonderful readers, add six books, and see where you end up!

Bookish (and not so bookish) Thoughts

01. I’ve finished uni for the semester. Now I’m planning six weeks of fun.

Sample Saturday – two thrillers and a spy story

Sample Saturday is when I wade through the eleventy billion samples I have downloaded on my Kindle. I’m slowly chipping away and deciding whether it’s buy or bye.

Quick! I need to read a whole book.

Sometimes a very, very short book is just the ticket – reading slump, testing a new genre, choosing something for your book group (because you know they don’t have the stamina for anything over 200 pages), a long train ride…

Here’s a list of my favourite very short books.

My Best Books for 2016

A ‘classic’ was defined by Italian author Italo Calvino as “…a book that’s never finished saying what it has to say.”

Now, I’m not claiming that the books I truly loved this year are ‘classics’, however, I’m borrowing Calvino’s definition to guide my list of top picks for 2016. This year, I’m paying less attention to five-star ratings and more attention to the books that are still speaking to me.

Nutshell by Ian McEwan

I’ve talked about Ian McEwan and my reading previously. I know some think he writes only one character (that being himself) and that the ever-present moral twist in his stories is predictable – but I’m okay with that. And Nutshell goes on my list of McEwan Worth Reading*.

Top Books for Book Groups that Like Wine and Whining

Okay, today’s Top Ten topic is supposed to be serious – suggestions for book groups that are crazy for memoirs or going through a science-fiction phase or whatever whatever… I love my book group deeply. We’ve been together for 17 years and, to be honest, reading the book is optional. However, we are consistent when it comes to laughing, having a wine (and sometimes a whine).

Six Degrees of Separation – from Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close to Royal Lists

It’s Grand Final day in Melbourne but it’s also #6Degrees day (am I stretching the friendship, saying that they compare?!). Anyway, three cheers for reading great books and three cheers for joining in!

We begin this month’s chain with Jonathan Safran Foer’s best-seller, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. I was totally immersed in this book, to the detriment of what was going on around me… Which happened to be a holiday in Palm Cove.