Library Loot: June 19 to 26

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and Marg from The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries!

Our financial year ends on 30 June and so we are busy, busy, busy at work! The most shocking thing about that statement is not so much the busyness but rather the fact that it is so close to the end of June! The year is just passing so quickly!

While I am getting to the library to pick up my requests, I am not doing so well at actually reading the books I have borrowed.

Here are the books that I will be attempting to read over the coming weeks:

No Fond Return of Love by Barbara Pym - there were quite a few of the blogs I regularly read participating in Barbara Pym week recently. The books sound interesting to me so I thought I woudl see what my library had. There were only two to choose from so I picked this one first!

A Gentleman Never Tells by Juliana Gray - reloot! Second book in the series. Really liked the voice in the first one!

Claire has Mr Linky this week so head on over to her blog to share your link!

Lighthouse Bay by Kimberley Freeman

Libby Slater is in mourning. Her lover of 12 years has died but she can't really openly mourn because she was the other woman, his mistress. Realising that she needed to make some changes to her life, she decides to return to the small town that she grew up in. Her lover, Mark Winterbourne, had bought a home in the town years before but Libby had always been reluctant to visit, mainly due to her fractured family relationships. Now there is just her sister left but after Libby left the small town 20 years before to live in France following a terrible tragedy and only minimal contact during that time, the two women barely have a relationship to speak of.

On returning to the small coastal town, Libby needs to establish a new life but she is also initially keen to hold onto her links with Mark, even if that means working closely with his widow on the new season's catalogue for Mark's family jewellery company. The company has been around for generations, and there is a mystery in the family's past. Back in the early 1900's Arthur Winterbourne travelled to Australia along with his wife Isabel. In his possession was a jewel encrusted mace which had been commissioned by Queen Victoria in honour of the federation of Australia as an independent country.

Isabel, like Libby, is in deep mourning, but in her case she is mourning the death of her baby after just a few days. In her very tight laced Victorian family she has not been allowed the respect of being able to openly mourn her little boy and she is now a very unhappily married woman. When the ship that Isabel and her domineering husband are travelling on sinks, it is believe that all on board are lost but after many searches over the years, there has never been any sign of the mace.

When Libby is given access to the diaries of the lighthouse keeper at the time, she begins to read them and starts to find references to a mysterious woman. Could it be that someone did survive the shipwreck? And if so, was the mace saved and what could have happened to it? Some stories suggest that it is buried near the lighthouse and there is more than one party that is looking forward to it.

The story follows Libby as she tries to navigate her new life with focus on reestablishing her relationships with her sister and others from the past and as she decides if she wants to stay in the town or if she should sell the cottage and return to her more familiar world in Paris.

We also meet Isabel as she is making the journey to the other side of the world, see her unhappiness, and see what fate has in store for her after she miraculously survives the shipwreck. Alone in the world, she must forge a new life for herself - one that is very different to the high class pampered life that she has left behind.

I know that the dual storyline is something that is very popular in historical fiction at the moment. When done poorly, you can find yourself only interested in one of the stories, or not quite getting the connection between the two timelines. There are no such issues here. I was totally engrossed in this book, staying up way too late at night to try and find out what happened to all the characters as they faced challenges in their respective contemporary societies.

One of the interesting things about this author is that she doesn’t seem to get that much recognition in the Australian blogosphere (or at least not the ones that I read) and I am not sure why that is. Before I saw it mentioned on Kate Forsyth’s blog back in February I didn’t even realise that Kimberley Freeman had a new book out so I requested it from the library straight away. After it had been sitting on my bookshelf for several weeks I began to see it mentioned on overseas blogs, especially those with a historical fiction focus.

Whilst Wildflower Hill was a good book and was well reviewed (again predominantly on overseas blogs), I thought that Lighthouse Bay was a much better read and I couldn’t wait to turn the page and see what happened next! It is a shame that Freeman isn’t getting that same notice here. I am not sure if she fares better in the spec fic blogosphere as she also writes under the name Kim Wilkins. One of these days I will try one of her spec fic titles and find out for myself.

I will definitely be paying more attention next time there is a new Kimberley Freeman book out! I am always a bit stingy with my 5/5 grades but I closed this book with a contented smile, and now I am also determined to read Freeman's two earlier books!

Rating 5/5

Synopsis

1901

Trapped in a lovely marriage, Isabella Winterbourne struggles with a grief from which she doubts she will ever recover.

2011

Alone and heavy-hearted, Libby Slater has finally come home from her Paris life, not sure what she will find.

On the wild and isolated east coast of Australia, Isabella and Libby have to wrestle with the choices they have made and the cards fate has dealt them. A mystery that stretches from one to the other leads Libby to the old diaries of the local lighthouse keeper. The dusty pages help her to unearth Isabella's legacy and rediscover the importance of family and forgiveness. Both women will find that no matter how dark things seem there is always light somewhere ahead.

This book counts for the following challenges

Sunday Salon: Taking a Chance by Deborah Burrows

Last year I read and reviewed Deborah Burrows' debut novel A Stranger in My Street. There were numerous things that I enjoyed about the book, not the least of which was the fact that it was set in my home town of Perth during WWII. Once again Burrows has turned to this time frame and setting to give us a story that is a strong combination of history, mystery and romance.

Nell Fitzgerald is a journalist who works for one of the more sensationalist of the newspapers in Perth. Whilst she worked hard to become a journalist, she is quite content in her current role where she writes the fashion column, the highlight of which is a weekly column advising how to rework hats in this time of austerity. It's not that Nell isn't ambitious - deep down inside she is - but more that she feels that she is helping to raise spirits and she knows what her own future holds namely marriage to a good man, her lawyer fiance, who is currently on duty in Melbourne.

It is only a matter of chance that she ends up being sent to cover a more serious story. Lena Mitrovic has been accused of murdering her lover who lived with her in an artists commune in the hills just outside of Perth. If found guilty, the judge has no choice but to sentence her to death. Whilst she is at the court she meets another journalist who has a personal interest in the case. Captain Johnny Horvath is a much lauded war American war correspondent who is recuperating in Perth after having been injured whilst reporting from the battle field. Johnny is good looking, charming and suave, and has a reputation with the ladies - a very different man to Nell's solid fiance Rob. Johnny knows Lena very well as they are former lovers. He doesn't believe for a minute that Lena would have killed Rick Henzell using rat poison and he is determined to prove her innocence

Johnny soons draws Nell into his quest, firstly because he is attracted to her, but also because he believes that Nell can do more, be more. He believes in her talent and he wants to push her so that she writes her own features, not only about Lena but also about some of the other big issues that are going unreported on in Perth.

One of the most interesting aspects of this book for me was the plight of the so called lost girls of Perth. With the influx of American servicemen, many of the young women of the city were swept off their feet into a world of glamour and excitement. After all, the Americans were seen as glamourous, could get access to goods that have long been unavailable to ordinary citizens and they had plenty of money. Many of the girls just wanted to have some fun. Some ended up married to men they barely knew, but there were still more young women who ended up with damaged reputations, unwanted pregnancies, incarcerated in juvenile detention for being wild, or worse.

When Nell and Johnny meet 14 year old Evie after saving her from an unsavoury situation with some drunken soldiers they both feel the need to do something. For Nell, this means taking Evie home to her aunt who has a history of taking in young girls. After all, she took in and raised orphan Nell. When their investigation impels Nell and Johnny to search for two other underage girls who have gone missing from the same artists commune that Lena lived in, Nell decides that she needs to write an investigative piece highlighting the issue.

Whilst Nell is attracted to Johnny and feels that attraction growing the more time they spend time together, she is also determined not to succumb to his charms. As she hears more stories about his past, she knows that there can be no future in a more personal relationship with him, so why can't she stop thinking about him, wanting to be with him.

I loved the development of the relationship between Nell and Johnny. He lets his feelings show but it is Nell who is reluctant to pursue more. Initially he doesn't push her emotionally, but he does constantly push her to be the best journalist she can be, encouraging her to believe in her abilities and to challenge herself in her career. Whilst the actual time frame of the story is relatively short, the way that the relationship develops feels organic even with the knowledge that Johnny's time in Perth is coming to an end, and the author does a great job in showing the relationship developing from colleagues to friends to more.

I also enjoy the historical details that Burrows manages to include in her books, from fashion to the gas conversion cars that I don't remember hearing about before, there is plenty of historical detail included in the pages of the book.

I once again enjoyed visiting WWII Perth through the pages of a Deborah Burrows book. All that is left to say now is bring on the next one!

Rating 4/5
Synopsis

Perth, 1943. A time for taking chances.

Eleanor 'Nell' Fitzgerald is smart – inside and out. For now, she writes helpful fashion advice for a local rag, but is bursting with ambition and plans to marry her lawyer beau as soon as he returns from wartime service. When she meets the handsome, famous and oh-so-charming Johnny Horvath of the American Press Corps, she finds herself dragged into a murder mystery.

Convicted of the murder of her artist lover, Lena Mitrovic is languishing in Fremantle Gaol. Johnny is sure of Lena's innocence and ropes in Nell to help him find the truth. During their investigation, they uncover some seedy secrets of wartime Perth: the other side of the "American Occupation". Girls and young women have been throwing caution to the wind, entering into romances and liaisons with the visiting servicemen.

And Nell soon discovers that not everybody has good intentions...

This book counts for the following challenges

Weekend Cooking: Red Wine and Garlic Lamb Shanks

I have actually been making this dish for a few years now. It is one of our favourite meals! After a day out in the cold watching my footy team lose, it was a pleasure to come home and smell this wafting through the house, and even more of a pleasure to eat it!

My main reason for posting this on my blog today is so that I can find it in future. The other day I went into the online account I have at taste.com.au and couldn't find the recipe in my saved cookbooks! Panic!!! This is one of my standard weekend dishes during winter, and I have also been known to dress it up a little with the parsley mixture shown below if I have visitors come around for dinner! I tend not to do the topping if it is just the boy and I!

Here is the original recipe which I originally found here:

2 tsp olive oil
2 tbs plain flour
Salt & freshly ground pepper
4 lamb shanks, trimmed
1 brown onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2/3 cup (160ml) red wine
700ml bottle Italian cooking sauce
600g Sebago (brushed) potatoes, peeled, chopped
1/3 cup (80ml) low-fat milk, warmed
250g green beans
1/3 cup chopped fresh continental parsley
1 lemon, rind finely grated
1 garlic clove, extra, crushed

Heat oil in a large heavy-based saucepan over a medium-high heat. Season flour with salt and pepper then coat lamb in flour, shaking off excess. Add to pan and cook, turning often, for 5-6 minutes or until browned. Remove from pan. Add onion and garlic, and cook for 3-4 minutes until softened slightly.

Increase heat to high and add wine to pan. Cook for 2 minutes. Stir in cooking sauce and bring to a simmer. Add lamb shanks to pan. Cover and reduce heat to low. Cook, covered, for 1-1 1/2 hours or until lamb is very tender. Season with salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, cook potatoes in a large saucepan of boiling water until tender. Drain well, mash and beat in milk. Steam beans. Combine parsley, lemon and extra garlic.

Divide lamb shanks and sauce among serving bowls. Top with parsley mixture. Serve with mashed potato and beans.

To be honest, I have never actually cooked shanks like this. I always cook them in the slow cooker. Some days I brown the meat in the flour mixture as outlined in step 1, but other days, like today, I just throw everything in the bowl and turn it on! 

One day I will play around with the liquid proportions as cooking it in the slow cooker does result in the sauce being quite thin (and lots of it) but it still tastes good, and the mashed potatoes soaks the juices up nicely anyway!

The bonus for this recipe is that it always cooks more than enough and so this quantity of meat and sauce will actually do for at least two days. So Monday night's dinner should be nice and easy really!

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. For more information, see the welcome post.

Library Loot: June 12 to 18

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and Marg from The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries!

Welcome to this week's Library Loot post! Another mixed bag for me this week. There is a graphic novel, an audiobook, literature and a romance! All over the place in my reading as usual!

Here's what I got:

How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia by Mohsin Hamid - Our book club book for July is Mohsin Hamid's The Reluctant Fundamentalist. That fact, coupled with the fact that I saw the movie of The Reluctant Fundamentalist the other week, reminded me that I really needed to read another book by him!


Chasing Fire by Nora Roberts - I have borrowed this in book form several times, but with my newly rediscovered enjoyment of audiobooks I thought I would try it on audio. So far I am really enjoying it!

French Milk by Lucy Kinsley - I can't remember where I heard about French Milk, or at least where specifically I heard about it again and thought I must try this book. I did borrow it in anticipation of Paris in July being announced, which it now has! Yippee - or perhaps I should find a French word to express my joy at that?

Welcome to Rosie Hopkin's Sweetshop of Dreams by Jenny Colgan - I don't remember hearing much about this book before it won the Romantic Novelist Association prize for best book this year. I do love a good romantic novel so this should be right up my alley!

What loot did you get this week? Share your link below:

Sunday Salon: May Reading Reflections

Whilst I have been struggling on the blogging front over the last couple of months, I was taking some comfort that my reading was still going strongly. May was the month where that no longer the case. So what have I been doing instead of reading and blogging? Playing stupid Facebook games! After months of playing only Songpop, this month I got totally addicted to playing Candy Crush and Farmhouse Heroes Saga. I also played another game for a few weeks but I have since stopped that one!

Now I realise that 14 books for a month is a pretty respectable total, but over the last 6 months or so I have been reading more than 20 a month so this is quite a significant reduction for me.

Here's what I read:

A Lady By Midnight by Tessa Dare 4/5
The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion 4.5/5
A Taste for it by Monica McInerney 4/5 (audiobook)
On Rue Tatin by Susan Loomis 4/5
Venetia by Georgette Heyer 4/5 (audiobook - 3rd listen this year)
Like No Other Lover by Julie Anne Long 3.5/5
Seduction by M J Rose 3/5
Life on Pittwater by Susan Duncan 4/5
Mateship with Birds by Carrie Tiffany 4/5
Paper Towns by John Green 3.5/5 (Audiobook)
A Trail of Fire by Diana Gabaldon 4/5
Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto 4/5
The Gods of Heavenly Punishment by Jennifer Cody Epstein 4.5/5
Fables: Sons of Empire by Bill Willingham 4/5
The Amber Amulet by Craig Silvey 4 (audiobook)

Challenge Update

Aussie Author Challenge - The Rosie Project, The Amber Amulet

Australian Women Writers Challenge - A Taster for It, Mateship with Birds

Currently Reading

Taking a Chance by Deborah Burrows, The Newcomer by Robyn Carr and listening to Chasing Fire by Nora Roberts

Up Next

Kitty's War by Janet Butler.

Weekend Cooking: White Bean and Chorizo soup

I have owned a couple of Bill Granger's books for years now, but I have actually ever cooked one recipe out of them - Choc Banana Bread. I have made that so many times, and it was one of the first recipes I shared for Weekend Cooking. I am not really sure why I haven't cooked more as so many of his recipes look relatively easy and tasty. 

After borrowing Best of Bill from the library I actually sat down and bookmarked a few recipes, and I also looked back through the books that I already owned and found several more recipes to try too. 

Given that it is now soup weather here, this recipe was one of the first that I tried and it will be on regular rotation through this winter and probably next winter too! I have also made the chocolate brownie recipe out of this book, and I think it now is my favourite chocolate brownie recipe...until I find another good one!

White Bean and Chorizo soup

1 teaspoon olive oil
1 chorizo sausage, diced
1 large onion, thinly sliced
2 stalks celery, diced
2 crushed garlic cloves
2 teaspoons fresh thyme, chopped
1 teaspoon paprika
2 diced tomatoes
1 l chicken stock
800g tinned cannellini beans, rinsed
Sea salt
Ground black pepper

Method

1. Heat the olive oil in a large pan over high heat and cook the chorizo for 3–4 minutes until crisp. Drain on kitchen paper.

2. Reduce the heat to medium-low, add the onion and celery to the pan and cook, stirring occasionally, for 6–7 minutes until softened. Add the garlic, thyme and paprika and cook, stirring, for 1–2 minutes until fragrant. Add the tomatoes and cook for another minute.

3. Return the chorizo to the pan with the stock and bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes. Add the beans and cook for another 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper before serving.

Easy, quick and tasty!

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. For more information, see the welcome post.