It's Only Words

Recently I have been most noticeable, I think, by my absence.

The past few months have been quite a struggle.

In the late part of 2015 I was dealing with severe symptoms of sinusitis; such as I’ve never experienced before.

In my despair I sought out a new GP who practises alternative medicines and found myself a nutritionist at a university where my daughter attends.

The exorbitant cost of alternative therapies in Australia has always infuriated me, not because of the cost but because the Australian government refuses, in the main, to subsidise these therapies and, for the chronically ill, who have tried conventional medicine to no avail, are the least able to afford them.

But all that aside, if the GP practises alternative medicine, I am subsidised to some extent, even though I still end up paying over 50% of the fee myself.

The university offers consultations with nutritionist in training at a very small fee but the supplements usually end up costing three or four times the cost of the consultation.

Despite all that, progress has been made.

First the GP ordered tests; to discover that I had a parasite infection in the large intestine -Dientamoeba fragilis. (Treated with a course of antibiotics).  So that taught me: A second opinion was worth it.  I had seen her way back in 2003 and she was curious to know why, after so long, I was still suffering from IBS symptoms even though I had taken various steps to treat the condition.  

Second the nutritionist recommended eliminating all dairy and gluten from the diet.  Which I did, to amazing results. For the first time in decades I can state that I’m free from sinusitis and hay fever symptoms. 

Thirdly, I have been struggling with weight gain for many years now, and while I may not look obese, or for that matter, even overweight, I know I am.  I have the physique that fills out nicely, and doesn’t necessarily bulge, but for someone that weighed just on fifty kilograms after her third baby, it certainly feels like a burden to carry around half of that weight again.  

Just cutting out the dairy, I believe, is a big factor in the weight loss I’ve experienced since late last year.  Not a huge amount…six kilograms or so…but also changing what I eat generally has also helped. 

I’ve increased the amount of protein at each meal by including more fish, quinoa, eggs and  buckwheat into my diet, and saving my main carbohydrate meal for the evening.  I’ve discovered chia puddings, almond milk (both which I make myself), coconut yogurt, seeds, and nuts.

My sugar intake has dropped dramatically and I haven’t had a cup of coffee (affogato – my downfall) for at least three months!

My next step in to up my regular exercise, at the moment I only do yoga once a week for around 60 minutes but my aim is to find a personal trainer willing to work with my resistance/weight bearing exercise from the aspect of someone who tires very easily.

My new GP gives me regular acupuncture and some alternative remedies and I continue my nutritionist’s consultations … I will endeavour a challenge at the end of the week, re-introducing dairy in the way of a 50g serve of hard cheese and note any reactions I may have. 

In the meantime I'm fighting a dose of summer flu!  I have been in bed since Sunday and missed out on a family lunch! Today I lay, languid, in bed writing these words.  I’ve done my fair share of reading too, but I want to be up, enjoying the world and I’m cursing the person that has shared this unwanted bug with me (Mr Honey Pie!).  (Well, perhaps I should be cursing the person who passed it on to him!)

In other news, I’m reading Geraldine Brooks People of The Book. I know one of my blog followers recommended this book to me, but I cannot remember who that may have been but I thank them for the recommendation.

The book spoke to me one hot afternoon, as I stood outside one of the two local used bookshops in Springwood, waiting for my Grand Daughter to meet me off her school bus. It sat in a pile of strategically placed books in the shop window.  I restrained myself from going into the book shop and the next afternoon, the shop was closed early so the temptation was taken away for the week.

But the next time I was there, and had some time to spare before the bus’ arrival, I slipped in and handed over the twelve dollars for the book.  I felt a bit rude as the book shop lady wanted to have an in-depth conversation with me and asked if I’d read any other of Geraldine Brooks’ books and I said ‘no’…only to discover, once I was home, that I had, because Brooks also wrote Years of Wonder.

Explaining that I was waiting for the bus, I had to slip out quickly.  I’m a bit wary of the fact that the bus stop is right out the front of a used book shop…this is a new thing for both my Grand Daughter and I - meeting at the bus stop...and throwing a book shop into the mix is a dangerous thing, both for myself and my Grand Daughter, as we are both book fiends and avid readers. 

Seems I owe a 'thank you' to Jayne M at Adventures At Tiny Toadstool Cottage for recommending the above text.  Thanks Jayne I'm enjoying the read!

Winter Hibernation ...

...means a good book or three to read as one snuggles on the couch, wrapped in a scarf and blanket.  
I've been coping with the cold by staying indoors as much as possible. 

As a result the garden has been neglected but I've managed to catch up on some reading.

Just like my post here I'm a little ashamed to admit that I've never read To Kill A Mocking Bird (Lee Harper).  I cannot explain why this is the case, except to say that I have been curious about the novel when it has come up in conversation in the past. 

But with all the hype about Lee Harper's new novel Go Set A Watchman my curiosity got the better of me and I became determined to read for myself what all the fuss was and is about.

Can you imagine my delight when, (on the 15th July) I happened upon a charity shop in Katoomba as I made my way to a function at the Paragon Cafe where I would meet with my Best Friend Ever. As I walked past the shop I made a mental note to pop in and a have a look after lunch.

The Paragon Cafe itself is a treasure trove of memorabilia.

 We indulged in a 50's themed Christmas in July Lunch on a bitterly cold day and as we were returning to my car My Friend, being a vintage clothes junkie, couldn't resist the Steven Walter Children Cancer Foundation - Op Shop (which has been described as a 'boutique-style charity shop') and as I'd already forgotten my mental note, I would not realise how appreciative of my friend I would be until my later find.

The store is a treasure trove...there is indeed a select array of the finest vintage items. Some may even be classed as antique but I'm not qualified to say.  We found room after room of nicely displayed collections of furniture, china, clothing, toys, and...books.

On spotting the books I began scanning the shelves for Lee Harper's first novel but quickly gave up as I couldn't really work the system employed by the staff to file their books (it definitely isn't the Dewey system!).

A staff member was stacking more books from a trolley so I approached her and asked if they happened to have To Kill A Mocking Bird and when I saw the look on her face I hoped she didn't think I was mocking her!  I could see her brain ticking over and I wondered to myself what retort she may be thinking up but after a few seconds her gaze, along with her mind I imagined, cleared and she uttered the words (or similar):  Yes we do, I've just put one up on the shelf here.

Then to my amazement she walked over to a rattan shelf and she reached up to the top most shelf and from atop the top most book, she took down a forlorn paperback copy of the book I had requested. (I would never have looked there.) Seek and ye shall find.  It is as simple as that.  I paid three dollars for it. 

Then two weeks or so later, at my local bookshop I paid $45 for a hardcover edition of Go Set a Watchman.  Oh well. (And no, it's not a first edition, as far as I can work out.)

To Kill A Mocking Bird

As a first time reader of the first novel written by Lee Harper I found myself drawn in by the character of Scout Finch and even though the setting is in a different continent and a different time to my own childhood the many similarities astounded me.  Perhaps both Scout and I commit, perhaps unconsciously, to existentialism.  

The most innocuous is what at times connects (for example) generations, or cultures. Besides, this narrative most certainly continues to relate to contemporary issues in my own homeland, and I imagine, many parts of the western world. 

Although reviews have described To Kill A Mocking Bird as a series of flashbacks in Jean Louise Finch’s life, I found them to be cohesive enough to not come across as a retelling of past events but rather, an unfolding of events in a troubling time as experienced by a young child, who perhaps is more open than most children to the impact of the behaviour of various adults and social groups in their life; as well as the conditions imposed on the children she associated  with (or didn’t)  as she grew up in Maycomb County, southern Alabama.
The questions it will trigger in the reader are as relevant today as they were back in the 1930s.   

Go Set A Watchman

This novel has a definite beginning, middle and end. It questions life issues more directly, I think, than To Kill A Mocking Bird.

The beginning was slow, reminisces a lot about Jean Louise/ Scout's childhood , and written in a much shriller voice than that of the deep and worrisome chesty tones of To Kill a Mocking Bird.  Perhaps it’s the inconsistent tone of the writing that left me feeling uneasy in the beginning. 

As a result, I found the start of the book sedate and irritating, especially since I read it immediately after Lee Harper’s first book. 

But it’s not long before Scout’s questioning of and refusal to accept the norms of her isolated and close knit community comes to the fore and once more I became enthralled and swept up by her thoughts and reasoning.

It’s been some years since Scout left Maycomb and this narrative is set during her annual visit to her childhood home. 

Go Set A Watchman, in the twenty first century, has just as much relevance as it would have in the 1950s, but perhaps we as humans have evolved enough to process the message more readily.  Whether we accept the challenge or not remains to be seen. 

 (I have read where a book seller has offered to refund buyers of the book, their money if they so wish, because they may have been led to believe it was a ‘nice summer novel’ but instead may find it to be an ‘academic insight’.  My response to that is: Hummpf. http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/aug/04/us-bookshop-offering-refunds-for-go-set-a-watchman-harper-lee.)

In the beginning this book made me laugh, in the end it brought me to tears but most importantly, in the middle, as I became absorbed by the conflicts experienced and betrayals perceived by Jean Louise, the words truly made me think and caused me to question my own views and beliefs towards people of other creeds, cultures, social standing and race.  It raises the question of the probability of how civil rights and liberties are interpreted depends on which group is doing the interpreting.  

What I'm Reading ATM

I haven't kept up my reading list on this blog, my last real post on what I'm reading at the moment being in January 2014!  

So here's a bit of a catch up, while noting that this is not a complete list of what I've read in more than twelve months.

At the moment, here is what I'm reading.

I discovered three of Doreen Virtue's books at a book fair held at the same venue as my regular farmer's markets and I have fallen head over heals in love with her words! I read all three of her books in like...three days maybe?  Given I was unwell at the time I guess that's no surprise.  Her Messages from Your Angels has become my bedside companion and I read a 'message' or two each night before dropping off to sleep.

I managed to pull myself away from Doreen last night and began reading The Noodle Maker of Kalimpong (a mother's day gift from Mr HP). The Noodle Maker is the Dali Lama's brother...I will keep you posted.
Written In My Own Heart's Blood I commenced reading well before Doreen Virtue's trio and well, the heart of the matter is that I'm finding it difficult to get my teeth into this book, even though I've been told it's a great read.  I guess I'll keep you posted on that one because it's been relegated to the "I never finish reading a book" list and I might give it another go after The Noodle Maker of Kalimpong.

Following are books I have finished reading sometime in the not too distant past.

I love reading historic novels and The Templars gives an insight into the power of the church through the ages and describes the rise and fall of the Knights Templar.  It can be very "text bookish" but I enjoyed the read.

Year of Wonders is written from a woman's perspective and tells the story of Anna Frith, a housemaid, as the world around her disintegrates, and a village is cut off from the outside world in an attempt to control the plague.  It was somehow apt for our times because I was reading this novel at the same time as the Ebola crisis was unfolding in Africa.

Mr HP gifted me The President's Desk and My Story at Christmas.  It was his Kris Kringle choice for me.  I think I had mentioned how much I would like to read both books because I'm a dedicated fan of both Shaun Micallef and Julia Gillard.

Well, what can I say about both these books? Firstly, you have to be aware that Shaun is a satirist and The President's Desk is certainly satirical!  Based on historic events throughout American history Micallef turns fact into uncertainty! Not being a great American historian myself I continually questioned myself as I read...did that really happen that way, or did it not? If you are not great on American historical facts I suggest that you be prepared to 'google' as you read...something I wish I had done as I read the book.  On the other hand, some things Micallef writes about past American Presidents are so ludicrous that one could think they are reading the latest Men In Black novel!

At first I doubted whether I would actually get stuck into this book but I persisted and by the end of it I was hooked (I'm a closet MIB fan, so maybe that helped)and will read it a second time to get things 'clearer in my head'.  I know Shaun Micallef won't mind me saying this...but one has to remember, while reading the book, that he is a little deranged and I just love him for it!  He is, in my opinion, a genius entertainer and perhaps his talent comes across best on television.

I guess, like Micallef, you're either a fan or not a fan of Julia Gillard (former Prime Minister of Australia).

I love Gillard, and as the first female Prime Minister of Australia I believe she was mis-understood and I think her biggest mistake was to not sack the former Prime Minster Kevin Rudd during her term.  But that's probably another story.

The book is an easy read and takes you into the machinations of Australia's Parliament.

Then there's Ken Follet's Pillars of The Earth on which the TV series is based.  I am a fan of Follet's but I found this read, although enjoyable, a little lacking in definition and whether this is because I had watched the TV series before hand (which I found very detailed) I'm not sure.  The characters in the book were a bit airy fairy in my opinion and perhaps to read it again, now that the TV version is out of my head might give me another opinion.

Child 44 and Mailman of the Birdsville Track are only two books on my "to read" list!  I am too scared to go and search out the books on my library shelf waiting to be read for fear of giving myself a shock!
Never before in my life have I had so many "books in waiting"!

What are you reading at the moment?

2014 In Retrospect

For our country, 2014 has been a dramatic year to say the least - to the point that by the end of the year I refused to listen to or watch the news.  I have also found world news too much to bear. I have therefore made a conscious effort to not comment, in my blog, on many current news events throughout the year.

So I sit here, with only minutes left to this year, and, for the first time since I started this blog, I have decided to do a year in review.  I will not do a month by month review but rather pick out what I believe to be major highlights of my and my family's year.

In January, I made a new year's resolution for the first time in decades; to speak less and listen more.  This has been, at times, difficult, and only this morning, during a reflective moment, told myself I need to continue with this discipline, so I will.

In January, I also read Gone With The Wind for the first time when a friend offered to loan me her copy of the book.  I loved the book and regret not reading it a long, long, time ago.

In May my sister visited Sydney and extended family to celebrate her 60th Birthday.  It was a special time for us all.

Mr Honey Pie and I headed off to the desert in July...winter being the only time to spend time in the desert and although we visited some exotic places, it made me feel so appreciative of our home comforts. 

August saw the family pull together as we moved our Mum out of what had been the family home for the past fifty three plus years.  Poor Mum suffered a mini-stroke the week of the handover.  It was an experience we would have wished she never should have experienced. Especially at her age.

In September our second son had a piece of his jewellery selected for a prestigious exhibition called A Fine Possesion at the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney.

Mr Honey Pie's side of the family had another addition to the family in November (and so another quilt was created)

I think one of my disappointments would have to be how nature failed Sydneysiders in 2014

each time there was some exciting happening in the night sky by filling it with clouds.

Clouds are not as exciting as an eclipse.

We missed out every time. 

Happy New Year to all my blogger friends.

May 2015 be everything you want it to be.

The Month That Was

February...gone...already. In February I forsook my blog...and not by choice. Auto immune disease strikes again...but before it took its hold ...

...I celebrated lots and lots of birthdays (February is a big birthday month on both sides of the family).

...I made things for Crop And Swap such as..

...sachets for the pantry

...herb salt with herbs from my garden

...and some herb butter...

...I was inspired to sew some birthday gifts by Kath at Hillside House Blog.  I loved her crazy patchwork covered coat hangers so much I thought I'd try my hand at crazy patchwork (not something I have attempted before).

Kath used flannelette as a base for her work but I experimented with off-cuts of wadding.  I stitched straight onto the wadding and used my walking foot for the entire project.

 (Do drop by and visit Kath...she is bravely undertaking a house renovation as well as doing lots of sewing.)

Wow, was I thrilled with the results!  

 I used a little soft toy stuffing to add some padding... 

The above two coat hangers I made for my niece and her husband using crazy patchwork and fancy sewing machine stitches as suggested by Kath.

Don't you just love this fabric?  I used it for my nephew (yes the brother of the above mentioned niece.)I used whole cloth for this and did some simple quilting to finish off. He is a mechanic and the fabric matches the lining I used for a toilet pouch I made for him last year.

Another one and this time for the third sibling (nephew), and also matches his pouch lining fabric.  His birthday is in November but since I was on a roll...I thought...why not?

It's finished off with vintage yellow buttons from my button collection.

And for my BIL (their father)...I thought some paisley print would be appropriate for his age bracket (hehehe!).  Guess in which decade he was born?

Then, there was a brief hospital stay and little activity has taken place since then...except for some reading. 

So...I've finished reading two books...Gone With The Wind (if you haven't already read this book I highly recommend it) and The Boy Who Fell To Earth by Kathy Lette.

I have mixed feelings about Kathy Lette's book...witty, fast-moving writing about a mother(Lucy) and her autistic son (Merlin) his absent, opportunistic, father and extended families.

Read at your own discretion.

And last but not least...I've stopped drinking coffee, and eating sugar, and ingesting gluten...just like that! The thought of them turns my stomach.

What I'm Reading ATM

I pride myself in being an avid reader and would go as far as saying reading is one of my longest and most favourite passions which began from the instant I realised I could read.

I'm a little ashamed that I haven't kept my blog up-to-date with my current reads...and I have omitted many 'reviews' of books I've read over the past months but I will attempt to remedy that in the future with a list of what I have read since my last "What I'm Reading ATM" post. (Gosh...has it really been more than twelve months!!)

When I mentioned to a friend recently, that I have not read Margaret Mitchell's Gone With The Wind or seen the movie she couldn't believe it and insisted on loaning me her copy of the classic.

I had just a few days earlier started reading Tolstoy's Anna Karenin (another classic I've not as yet read) (and which I'd picked up for two dollars off a social page garage sale). 

When I realised that Gone With The Wind is a hefty tome of a book (and exceeds the page count of Anna by something like two hundred pages), I put Anna aside and commenced on Gone With The Wind  so I could return it to its rightful owner sooner rather than later.

I have to admit surprise to the book's easy and instant engagement with me the reader. I have read over two hundred pages of the one thousand plus pages (filled with minuscule print) and I continue to want to move forward and to have revealed to me more of Scarlett's un-ordinary life and irascible character.

What I find amusing is how fashionable the names of the characters have been in the twentieth century...Rhett, Ashley, Cade, Brent, Scarlett, India...well, if I'd seen the movie or read the book earlier I would have know why...and there I was thinking these names were so contemporary...as if someone had pulled them out of thin air.

Mitchell writes with ease and I can just darn hear the drawl of the Southern belles and beaux and even more so of their many, many, slaves. 

I realise now that I have been depriving myself by not having read the book and will hold judgement on the movie until I've seen it.

Is there a 'classic' novel title missing from your life's book list that you have put off reading...for whatever reason...or insist on not reading? Why?

   

Day 320/366

What I'm Reading ATM

mote

noun

1. a small particle or speck, especially of dust.

7 July 2012

I am in love with the word 'mote'.

On Wednesday night, I had almost completed reading Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre.  The next morning I faced the dilemma of carrying one book(Jane Eyre)with me to the train station, and then completing the book within the first fifteen minutes of the trip, so being left book-less for the remaining hour, as well as on the journey home; or carrying two books.

A third option was, I concluded, the best.  I left Jane at home, on my bedside, with Mr Rochester, to be concluded that night.  In my little tote bag (that my daughter had made for me), I carried instead, Captain Corelli's Mandolin.  Well, not his actual mandolin, but Louis de Bernières book!

Is it coincidence that both Bronte and  de Bernières should play with the word so?  Like music to ones eyes so that when I read the word, I envisage sunbeams, sparkling with movement created by the most detested matter known to the humble housewife: Dust.

How is it that the sun can transform a most annoying substance into a ballet of illuminated movement?

Alone, a sunbeam is beauty, add to it motes of dust and it is transformed into a Capella for the eyes.

I discovered motes early in life, memories go as far back as age four or five.  Motes transfixed me to the moment created by the poetry of sun and movement, of light and mote. (For now dust is no longer dust). 

Shake out a blanket, an item of clothing, a rug or feather duster and all you get is a face full of dust.  Catch the same substance in a sunbeam, shake out the duster in sunlight and you get dust motes circling and twirling and glistening gold.

25 September 2012
Since writing the words above I have read many more books.
Completed:
Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
Captain Correlli's Mandolin (Louis de Bernières)

The Book Thief ( Marcus Zusak) 

Losing My Virginity (Richard Branson)

Angela's Ashes (Frank McCourt)

'Tis A Memoir (Frank McCourt)
The Kite Runner

Nineteen Eighty Four (George Orwell) 

Reading:  
The War Within (Don Tate)

Nineteen Eighty Four I'd read previously and re-read to refresh my memory.

I found it a very depressing story.

Both The Book Thief and Angela's Ashes are written during the Second World War.

The Book Thief: In this story Death is personified. 

I thoroughly enjoyed reading The Book Thief, Angela's Ashes and 'Tis because of the unique writing styles which drew me in and cast me along effortlessly.  I cried, I laughed, I was torn by the harshness of poverty, cruelty, and despair experienced by young children born into a life they had no choice in.
The war scenes brought home to me what it must have been like for my parents, growing up in a war torn country, during World War II, in way they have never been able to.
The War Within is a story about a different war: The Vietnam War.
I'm finding Tate's writing style a little stilted but the storyline keeps me interested.
Like McCourt, Tate writes a more 'blokey' kind of story which makes me reluctant to recommend them to my female friends for fear of insulting them a little with the sometimes vulgar language and anecdotes. 
Yet, some of Tate's childhood experiences where not far off my own, which shocked me a little because I believed that I experienced many upsetting situations because I was the child of immigrant parents.
Seems that life experiences are not restricted to race.

15 November 2012

Above is a photograph of some of the books I've read over the past months.

I have spent many hours reading on public transport, to and from work, I have spent days in bed with can only be a return of my chronic fatigue syndrome which leaves me little energy to do much.  Sometimes even reading is a struggle and I manage forty minutes or so followed by an hour's sleep.

To 'review' all the books I've read since starting this post would make for an awfully long post.

Some of the books in my list are not mentioned or photographed yet.

For example David Pelzer's My Story and Debra  Byrne's Not Quite Ripe.

Many of the books I've read have similar themes running through them, of poverty, hardship, caused either by war or social standing. Many were about childhood abuse. Some were fiction, many were autobiographical.

One which stands out is Arbella - England's Lost Queen by Sarah Gristwood.

Initially finding it too technically interwoven with references and historic facts I persisted to discover a tragic life so controlled by the politics of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries that it saddened me the reader, as I slowly began to understand the lengths rulers, leaders and politicians go to maintain power.

In those days, punishment was brutal and often fatal.

The reading gave me a better understanding of how some of our country's civil and migratory rules and regulations were initiated.  Paranoia was a common enough reason to throw someone of great social standing into the Tower.

Arbella, an orphan and heiress to the English throne was used and abused by those around her. Her marriage, bringing with the possibility of heirs, was regarded as a threat and to be avoided at all costs.

During Arbella Stuart's time, the world was a much smaller place and surveillance of royalty very much practised. Add to that her gender and Arbella did not stand much of a chance.

A recommended read for royalists and non-royalists alike. 

Another book I managed to read was Golden Bats and Pink Pigeons by Gerald Durrell gave me a bit of light hearted relief from all the painful experiences I'd been reading!

More the length of a long essay than a novel, it explored the island of Mauritius and conservationists' attempts to save wildlife in danger of extinction.

The last book I've read, only finished last night is Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer.

I have watched the movie at least three or maybe four times.  It is one of those movies that continues to affect me each time I watch it.

My usual habit is to read the book before watching the movie but with The Kite Runner and Into The Wild it's been the opposite.

Although I like both movies very much, I enjoyed the books much more and they are more in depth.

When I began reading Into The Wild I felt a bit irritated by all the introduction but it is a well written book which intertwines the lives of other historic figures who venture into the wild to find themselves, including the author's own life.

I found it an interesting, insightful book, perhaps not as dramatic and emotional as the movie.  

Day 177/366

What I'm Reading ATM

I clearly remember the day I was given my first story book, by a family acquaintance, as a parting/Christmas gift. When, about nine months later, I had to leave it behind at my Grandparents' home, I cried.

I must admit that at the time the beautiful illustrations were probably more appealing to me than the story line but that book has stayed in  mind's eye for over fifty years.

 As a child books were my escape.  I truly believe that there have been times in my life where they have been my saviour.  

I am no lightweight when it comes to reading.  The number of times I have left a (fictional) book unfinished can be counted on one hand.

So when I discovered the Carrie Diaries amongst a cache of books my Youngest Son's girlfriend gave me to read I didn't really believe me when I told myself: I'll see how it goes.  If I don't like it I don't have to finish reading it.

I have a habit of doing this...but most times I will persist with a book even if I don't like it and complete reading it simply because I hate leaving a book half read. 

So when I discovered that The Carrie Diaries is sort of a prequel to Sex and The City I hummed and hawed about it and considered not even opening it up to the first page. You see, I must confess that I have not watched a single episode of Sex and the City, nor a single movie.

Until I picked up that book I'd never heard of Carrie Bradshaw. I decided that one must not look a gift horse in the mouth so I read the book; from beginning to end.

This book, I found, deals with many adolescent issues: Teenage sex, loss, peer pressure, adolescent perceptions of significant adults and the desire to belong and fit in are just some.

Carrie Bradshaw is different from her peers  she has lost her father (through death). 

The experience affects all members of her family of origin in vastly different ways.

Candice Bushnell's writing aroused my emotions constantly and I found that sensitivity is a feature of her writing.  I don't know how Carrie Bradshaw is portrayed in Sex and the City, but in The Carrie Diaries she is an intelligent young girl with deep respect for her parents.

She can be insightful, knows what she wants in life (but can be swayed by her peers), and is on the brink of going out into the big wide world.

Although some might class it as "Chick Lit" I enjoyed reading about Carrie and how at times she fumbled through life and other times was decisive.  She made me laugh and she made cry.  I'm tempted to find out a bit more about her.

My second book, Belong To Me was introduced to me by an on-line book club that I've joined.  The finer details of just how this book club will be managed have yet to be ironed out so I will fill you out on that when the time comes.

In a sentence, Belong To Me can best be described, in my opinion, as an upmarket version of Desperate Housewives.

American street, post 9/11,is full of women all trying to out do each other. 

Tragedy forces these women to re-evaluate previous perceptions.  Surprising and unexpected secrets evolve to bring characters together while also revealing some shocking ulterior motives.  

Innocent people's lives are hugely impacted on by these revelations, sometimes for better, sometimes not.

Cornelia Brown does not take long to realise that a move to what she believes to be a quite town may not be as smooth as she'd expected.

The reader will take an instant dislike to Piper but she will be the most challenged of all the characters and lives up to the opportunity to grow herself personally.

Initially, I found the writing style of Marisa de los Santos beautiful and flowing, the story fast moving and compelling.

By the final third of the book the words had become grating and condescending.

The ending I'd describe as sickly sweet and the sort of ending that I find irritating because it's as if it's written because the author is in a hurry to complete the book, because a story has to have an 'end'.

Sometimes, I think, it's better to leave an ending 'up in the air' as it were, because it's so obvious that everyone is going to live happily ever after that the words don't need to be written, that the words are just a waste.

None-the-less, a good read, a story that deals, again, with loss, friendships, morality, marital relationships and adolescence.