Sunbirds by Miranda Riwoe

 

I picked up this book from the library a few weeks ago on a whim, which was probably a bit silly given that I knew that I was going to struggle to read it before we went away on holidays. However, I started reading the prologue, which is about the bombing of seaplanes in Roebuck Bay near Broome during WWII, and was really moved by it. I even gave it to my husband and said read this. When I went to school I don't recall really being taught that places like Broome and Darwin were bombed during the war. I think most people would know about Darwin now, but I don't think the other bombings would be as well known. We visited Broome a couple of years ago so are familiar with the history and it is one that intrigues me. At low tide you can still walk out to the wrecks of the seaplanes, although they are disintegrating with time.

This was a fascinating story set against the backdrop of agitation for Indonesian independence from the Dutch, with a novelette woven through which is the story of a murdered girl, and all the while the Japanese get closer and closer and so the tension builds and builds. Of course, much like the British in Singapore and Hong Kong, they believe that there is no way that the Japanese will possibly take their country. Some of the Asian characters initially believed that the Japanese will assist with their desire for self rule, although looking back we know that this didn't really happen anywhere.

Our main character is Anna van Hoorn. She is the daughter of a Dutch plantation owner and a desperately unhappy Indo woman named Hermine. Anna's family is wealthy, and maintains many Dutch traditions but Anna is fascinated by many of the local customs. She  grew up with many of the villagers and often slips away to learn out to do the traditional dances and eat the traditional foods. In many ways she doesn't necessarily fit into either culture. She is respected in the Dutch community only because of her father's money and must always be seen to be morally upright, and yet she is not really accepted into the village because of her father's money.

One of her family's guests is Mattijs, a Dutch pilot who is hoping to make a new life in the Dutch East Indies. Anna's father believes that this will be a good match and so the machinations begin. But Anna is also fascinated with Sigit, brother of the van Hoorn's housekeeper Diah. Sigit is a separatist, agitating for self rule. Diah has dreams of her own. Her brother looks down on her because she works looking after the family, but she knows that in doing so she can work towards the future that she wants.

I always appreciate the opportunity to read a WWII story that is just that bit different. There are WWII books out there set in the Asian theatre of war but nowhere near as many as there are set in Europe. I can't think of many set in what is now Indonesia. This is, however, much more than just a WWII story. It is a story about identity and belonging, about the path to self rule and more. 

Riwoe also did a great job portraying the various different lives from food and languages to culture. You could feel the tropical heat rising off the page, smell the spices in the food and hear the birds. It's very evocative. I have only previously read her novella, The Fish Girl, which I reviewed here. I enjoyed this book immensely, so will definitely be tracking down her previous book and looking forward to whatever comes next.

I am sharing this review with Historical Fiction Reading Challenge which I host . 

Rating 4.5/5

Top Ten Tuesday: 10 Degrees of Separation

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is Books You’d be a Fool Not to Read (Happy April Fool’s Day! In honor of this silly holiday, share the books you think people must read for whatever reason. They could be your favorites, books you deem classics, books that you learned something important from, books you wish you’d read sooner, etc. You could even narrow it down to a specific genre and share the must-reads for that genre. Get creative!)

I am not really feeling this as a topic so I have decided to be a fool in a different way. Every month, I participate in a meme called Six Degrees of Separation. It is a monthly meme hosted by Kate from Books Are My Favourite and Best. The idea is to start with a specific book and make a series of links from one book to the next using whatever link you can find and see where you end up after six links.

You can choose to make the links between books in any way that you like. It could be from a word in the title, part of the authors name, a cover that reminds you of another book, the subject of the book. It really is just a big game of association. In order to start things off, I am going to choose to use the last book I mentioned in last week's Top Ten Tuesday post and see where that takes me using 10 books instead of the normal 7!

So how does this make me foolish? Because I am doing the wrong meme!

My starting point is White Mulberry by Rosa Kwon Easton as it was the last book that I mentioned in last week's Top Ten Tuesday post. 

One of the main characters names in Daughters of Tuscany by Siobhan Daiko is Rosa which connects nicely to the author's name for the previous book. (my review)

I am choosing to use the fact that the main setting for Still Life by Sarah Winman is Florence which is  the capital city of Tuscany This book is almost a love letter to the city.

From there I am choosing to use the word Life from the title and choose Life After Life by Kate Atkinson 

Another Kate whose writing I enjoy is Kate Forsyth who writes phenomenal fairy tale retellings wrapped up in historical fiction. Normally I would pick Bitter Greens but this time I am going with The Beast's Garden which is set against the backdrop of WWII.

Next I am choosing Briar Rose by Jane Yolen. This is another fairytale retelling I enjoyed, once again set during WWII. There are even some similar motifs on the cover of both of these books. (my review)

Using the word Rose and the WWII setting as the links I am choosing The Rose Code by Kate Quinn, which is about the codebreakers working at Bletchley during WWII. 

Still focusing on WWII settings, and the work of codebreakers, this time Australian women who were based in Brisbane, I have chosen The Codebreakers by Alli Sinclair

I hadn't really intended to have so many WWII connections, but here is another one. My main link though is that both authors have the same first name. I have therefore chose At the Foot of the Cherry Tree by Alli Parker as my next link.  

And finally, I am using the word tree as my link to Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak . (my review)

So there we have it! 10 books linked by various different means taking us from a Korean woman living in Japan in the lead up to WWII to a book where the Cypriot characters are living in London following years of conflict on their island. I inadvertently ended up with quite a few WWII books, as well as several books with roses on the cover!

I would mention that there are lots of option with every level of this there are multiple different ways you could go. For example, I saw Sarah Winman at Melbourne Writers Festival a few years ago now, so I could have picked any other author who I have seen at MWF as my next choice and the chain would have ended up looking very different, and everyone's chains are always unique. Do you think you would have fun doing this exercise?

Historical Fiction Reading Challenge - April links

 Thank you to everyone who contributed a review in March for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. I will be back next week with all the statistics for the month!

I am looking forward to reading your reviews throughout the rest of the year! I am sure there is going to be a lot of great historical fiction discovered and shared with fellow HF lovers over the course of this year!

If you haven't already signed up, it's not too late! The sign up post is here.

Just to recap what participants need to know. At the beginning of each month I will put up a post which will have a Mr Linky embedded into it for you to add your link.

Please remember...

• add the link(s) of your review(s) including your name and book title to the Mister Linky we’ll be adding to our monthly post (please, do not add your blog link, but the correct address that will guide us directly to your review). A direct link to your Goodreads review is also acceptable
• any kind of historical fiction is accepted (fantasy, young adult, graphic novels...)
• if you have time, have a look some of the other links that are present. You never know when you will discover new blogs or books!

You can also join the challenge group on Facebook which you can find here and don't forget to use the #histficreadingchallenge hashtag on the socials.

Let the reading begin!!

Weekend Cooking: Colours of Creaming Soda

 One of the things that I find fascinating when travelling is around food. What the differences are, and what the similarities are! Today I am going to talk about creaming soda.That's right....I'm thinking about the big topics!

I am not sure if you have tasted it or not, but I was trying to think how to describe what the flavour of creaming soda is, and I really struggled. The best I could come up with is that it is mostly like a carbonated vanilla flavoured drink. It's not my drink of choice, but every now and again I will see it on the shelf, and think, yes, I could have some of that.

It therefore make sense to me that it would be a brown coloured drink, taking into consideration the colour of vanilla seeds or vanilla essence. And here in Australia, anything being called traditional creaming soda is a brown colour, but it is not actually the same the world over.

If you buy non traditional creaming soda here in Australia, then the more common colour is a vibrant red colour, and I am not just talking about the can. I was very surprised to learn when I visited South Africa for the first time a few years ago that it is a vibrant green colour there. They have also gone the extra mile and your can get all sorts of things that are green creaming soda flavoured. There is flavoured milk, cordial and even chocolate!

Image from Pinterest

I was surprised when we were in Hong Kong last year that creaming soda is more a yellow colour there. I had a pineapple and mango juice (so good!) but I also had to check out the creaming soda while I was there so I made Robert order that!

What colour is creaming soda where you live? And do you even like it?

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. 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. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page

Blog Tour: I Knew You Were Trouble by Sandy Barker

 

When a stranger knocks at Kate's door on a Friday night telling her that he has something important to tell her she is immediately wary. There is no way she is going to let him into her flat, so she runs a quick google search to check if the name he has given her is legit or associated with any scams, and then when the search is clear goes to meet him at the local pub. The news that the Dutchman, Willem de Vries, gives her turns her world upside down. Her pilot fiance, Jon, is also engaged to Willem's sister Adriana, and he needs her help to get his sister to believe it. He therefore asks Kate to come to Amsterdam with him to prove that they have both been duped. 

Kate had met Jon through a matchmaking agency. She had registered with two agencies. The other agency was the Ever After Agency where she met matchmaker Poppy Dean.  Soon, Kate is putting together a plan to get revenge on Jon, a plan that will need Adriana and Poppy to be involved. But first, she needs to know if there are any other fiancees out there.

Willem has done a good job of investigating Jon, but Poppy has other resources at her disposal, in the form of grumpy French detective Marie. Soon, Willem and Kate are crisscrossing Europe, putting the plan in place to bring Jon back down to earth with a thud.

This is the fifth book in the Ever After series, featuring Poppy, and this one was interesting because here Poppy isn't acting as the matchmaker, even though she can quite clearly see that Kate and Willem have some serious chemistry going on! Instead, she becomes more and more involved in the plot to snare Jon in the honey trap, which could be quite awkward with her husband, Tristan.

I loved the Amsterdam setting, and the other places that are visited throughout the book too! I also definitely appreciated the Dutch hero! I have one of those myself. My husband was born and raised in South Africa, but his parents are both Dutch so he is 100% Dutch blood with a touch of South African accent, and an Australian passport!  And I have one of the difficult to pronounce Dutch surnames!

I am really sad to see the end of the Happy Ever After series featuring Poppy and her friends and colleagues. It has been an enjoyable series.  I am going to a readers retreat in May where Sandy Barker is one of the attending authors and I am really hoping that we will hear about what comes next! I will be reading it!

I am sharing this review with the New Release Challenge hosted by The Chocolate Lady's Book Reviews. Be sure to check out other stops on the tour shown below. Thanks to the publisher, Netgalley and Rachel's Random Resources for the review copy. 

Rating 4/5

About the book

I Knew You Were Trouble

Don’t get mad. Get even.

Kate Whitaker has always believed in love, but when a stranger named Willem shows up on her doorstep, the news he has to share isn’t as exciting as his god-like looks might suggest. He’s come to tell her that Kate’s fiancé is also engaged to his sister.

Kate doesn't know how she didn’t see the red flags: Jon’s work as an airline pilot having him flying around the globe, the postponed dates, the huge rock of an engagement ring that isn’t her style at all.

Overcome with fury – and entranced by the Nordic god’s piercing blue eyes and quiet allure – Kate agrees to accompany Willem to his hometown of Amsterdam to help break the news to his sister. Yet what begins as a simple gesture of support soon twists into a deliciously devious plan to get back at Jon.

Kate is drawn into a world of retribution, revenge and – unexpectedly – romance. Because sometimes the best way to get over someone is to get under someone else…

A laugh-out-loud romantic comedy about broken trust, sweet revenge, and the surprising places we find love. Perfect for fans of Sophie Kinsella and Emily Henry.

Purchase Link - https://mybook.to/KnewYouWereTrouble

About the Author 

Sandy Barker is a writer, traveller and hopeful romantic.

Sandy’s first novel, One Summer in Santorini, a romantic comedy set in Greece and inspired by her own real-life love story with her partner, Ben, was published in 2019 by One More Chapter (HarperCollins), launching the 5-book Holiday Romance series. Also with One More Chapter are her Christmas Romance series, celebrating her favourite time of year, and The Dating Game, a stand-alone romcom set in the world of Reality TV.

Sandy’s new 5-book romcom series with Boldwood Books is about the Ever After Agency, a bespoke matchmaking agency based in London, with a brilliant cast of characters and settings around the world.

Social Media Links –

Facebook: @SandyBarkerAuthor

Instagram: @sandybarkerauthor

Newsletter Sign Up: https://bit.ly/SandyBarkernews

Bookbub profile: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/sandy-barker

The Truth by Terry Pratchett

I have a somewhat potted history with the Discworld series. I love them and even hosted a Terry Pratchett Reading Challenge back in 2010. They make me laugh and I think that Pratchett was just so clever with his observations on life and death, whether you are talking about the big things in life or just the inane. And yet, I have only read the first 9 books in the series, some more than once, plus a couple of other random books here and there, in particular the Industrial books. It's a good 7 years since I read a new Discworld book. And then there is Hogfather.

According to my spreadsheet which I started back in 2005 I first read Hogfather in 2007. In 2021, I listened to the audiobook in the lead up to Christmas, and then I have listened to it every year since. It's become part of my annual Christmas traditions!

Based on that it is probably a bit strange that I chose to listen to The Truth, especially seeing as I generally have a big aversion to reading series out of order, but I did have good reason. My read-on-a-theme bookclubs theme for our February meeting was 25. The Truth is both book 25 in the Discworld series, and was published in the year 2000, which makes it 25 years old! Perfect for the theme!

The Truth is about a man called William de Worde, who accidently becomes the editor of the first newspaper in Ankh-Morpork. He brings together a disparate group of people who become the staff of the newspaper. There are the dwarves who do the typesetting and printing, Sacharissa Cripslock, the woman reporter, Otto the vampire iconographer and more! William is determined that he will share the Truth, but soon the paper brings all kind of attention on him. He also does not want the paper to become just a vehicle for stories about funny shaped vegetables. When Lord Veterinari is accused of a terrible crime, William suddenly finds himself involved in the story rather than just reporting the story. The Watch aren't happy with him, the guilds aren't happy with him. In short, no one is really happy with him!

There are many familiar characters within these pages, from Foul Ole Ron and his friends, to CMOT Dibbler, the Watch and more. Then there are the new characters, in particular the bad guys Mr Pin and Mr Tulip. These are career criminals, and pretty violent ones at that, and yet even then Pratchett manages to give at least one of them some nuance. Mr Tulip is a thug and yet he has a strong appreciation for fine art!

Whilst I did enjoy the story and narration of this book, I must confess that I struggled a bit with getting into the audiobook. I think this is mainly because for the last 4 years I have listened to the audio of Hogfather which is narrated by Sian Clifford, and it took me a while to get used to Matthew Baynton's narration. Fortunately Bill Nighy was still there for the footnotes, and Peter Serafinowicz still made an appearance as DEATH, but he didn't come onto the page until around 75% of the way through the book. I also missed Susan.

My favourite part of the narration of this book was Otto the vampire iconographer. I loved the way that this character was performed, especially the parts where he was taking flash photography and that caused him to disintegrate, having to be revived with a drop of non human blood otherwise he would break his vow of abstinence as part of the black ribbon society (think Alcoholics Anonymous for vampires). It literally made me laugh out loud many times!

As usual, there are the cutting observations of life and death. There is one scene where Death is meeting a character and the character says something along the lines of is this where my life flashes before my eyes and Death responds with this is where how others saw your life flashes before your eyes. So clever.

When I think about all the social commentary in the Discworld books, I can't help wonder what Sir Terry might make of everything going on in the world right now.

My plan is to read or listen to another Discworld book in the next few months. Or if not, I will be very likely to be revisiting Hogfather come December for my next reread/listen.

March Magics is an annual event to celebrate both Diana Wynn-Jones and Terry Pratchett. It is now hosted by Calmgrove Books

Top Ten Tuesday: Books set in Japan

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is Books I Did Not Finish (DNFed) (feel free to tell us why, but please no spoilers!). It's very rare for me to DNF a book deliberately. Do I put them down with the intention of picking them up again? Sure, happens every now and again. 

Instead of the DNF topic, I am going to share some Japanese books that I have read, and some that I want to read. This is because I am currently on a cruise from Tokyo to Seoul in South Korea, so it seems a fitting time for this topic. As I looked at the covers with just a couple of different choices I could have also called this Books Set in Japan with cats on the cover!

First the books I have read over the last couple of years:

The Chibineko Kitchen by Yuta Takahaski- the second book is due to be released in the next couple of months (review)

The Restaurant of Lost Recipes by Hisashi Kashiwai- This the second book in the Kamogawa Food Detectives series (review)

Before We Forget Kindness by Toshikazu Kawaguchi - This is the fifth book in the Before the Coffee Gets Cold series, but the only one I am going to include on this list

Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa - This book caught my eye when we were in San Francisco a while ago. I read this early last year.

What You Are Looking for is in the Library by Michiko Aoyama - I reviewed this last year for the Japanese Literature Challenge.

Books I Want to Read

Butter by Asako Yuzuki - I have wanted to read this since I first heard about it but haven't managed it yet!

The Library of Heartbeats by Laura Imae Messina - Isn't this cover sweet!

Strange Weather in Tokyo by Hiromi Kawakami - I saw a review of this over at Words and Peace and added it to my TBR list straight away.

The Full Moon Coffee Shop by Mai Mochizuki - I did commit to read this soon in my TTT post last week!

White Mulberry by Rosa Kwon Easton - This is about a Korean girl who moves to Japan just before WWII

Have you read any of these or have any other recommendations?

My Jane Austen adventure 2025

For our March meeting, our read on a theme bookclub theme was Classics. Given that it is Jane Austen's 250th birthday this year, it seemed like the time had come for me to read another book by her. I had previously read Emma and Sense and Sensibility, so this time I chose to read Pride and Prejudice, which I listened to on audiobook. It was narrated  by Rosamund Pike, who played the eldest Bennett sister, Jane, in the 2005 movie version. It has, somewhat surprisingly, started me on a bit of a Jane Austen path over the last few weeks.

I am not going to write a review as such, because let's face it, this book has been being reviewed for 210 years. My thoughts are somewhat irrelevant. I thought that, instead, I would provide a few comments and then ponder some instances of the impact of Jane Austen in modern pop culture.

Like a lot of classics, it is fair to say that I knew the story before reading the book. Sometimes I think that is the case and then find myself being surprised by some of the directions the book take. Not in this case though. 

There were other things that surprised me though, one of which was the wit in the dialogue. There were times when I did laugh as I was listening, particularly at Mr Bennet. For example, there is a scene where Lizzie is telling her father about Mr Collins proposal. 

An unhappy alternative is before you, Elizabeth. From this day you must be a stranger to one of your parents. Your mother will never see you again if you do not marry Mr. Collins, and I will never see you again if you do.

His wry observations of his wife and daughters, of his heir and of life in general were somewhat amusing. He wasn't a great judge of character about everyone though. 

I also found myself pondering about Jane Austen's observations of the human condition. Whilst her setting was somewhat limited to the upper middle class of the early 1800s, many of the things that people worry about now can be reflected through the pages of the book. For example, Mrs Bennet was mostly concerned with the marriage of her daughters which would give them a home and financial security. Whilst these days we would not necessarily be concerned about the wedding itself, those same concerns for how our children will make their way in the world is real. When talking about historical fiction, I often think we can clearly see that while life in the 13th century, or 19th, or 21st century, the reality is that our main concerns are how do we keep a roof over our heads, food in our mouths, keep our loved once safe and make ends meet. It looks very different in terms of technology, housing, transport etc but the fundamental needs are similar.

Before I start to talk about some of the things that I have done recently, I have been thinking a lot about something that was all the rage around 12 years ago. If you were in the book world back in 2013, you may recall the phenomenon that was The Lizzie Bennet Diaries. It was a multimedia, episodic modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice using Youtube, Twitter and more as the storytelling vehicle. 

Like many others, I was completely obsessed with this show. I am always a bit of late to the party when it comes to fashion and social media trends so I came late to The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, but that meant that I was able to binge the whole thing, which I did. I found a post in my blog archives where I talked about just binge watching the show from beginning to end over the Easter weekend, watching the first 40 episodes more than once, and then repeating other episodes over and over.  The same team then went on to give this same treatment to other books but it wasn't quite the same phenomen that The Lizzie Bennet Diaries were. Should I start watching the Youtube videos again? I really shouldn't. 

More recently, I went to the movies to watch Bridget Jones Diary 4: Mad About You. I realised that I didn't think that I had seen the second and third movies, and so I sat down and watched the first three in quick succession. There are many ways that BJD borrows elements from Pride and Prejudice, and not just because one of the two love interests is called Mark Darcy. It was fun to spot the Austen references from lines like "It's the truth universally acknowledged that the moment one area of your life starts going OK, another part of it falls spectacularly to pieces." to the rollercoaster emotions that Brigid has for Mark Darcy, and the Wickham-esque bad behaviour of Daniel Cleaver.  Helen Fielding openly admits that she got a lot of inspiration from the book!

And my thoughts on Mad About You? I laughed a lot. I cried even more. I was so glad that Daniel Cleaver was back. I missed Hugh Grant in the previous movie. Patrick Dempsey was good, but he didn't bring that naughty boy energy that is so Daniel Cleaver. And now, I think that Bridget Jones can stroll off into the sunset. I will probably watch the first and last movies again a few times. I might watch the third one again too, but I can take or leave the second one!

The French Film Festival is currently on here and last week I took myself off to the movies to watch Jane Austen Wrecked My Life. In the book, the main character is a massive Jane Austen fan and can find a JA recommendation for any occasion. She finds herself at a Jane Austen Residency writers retreat. The movie itself was a lot of fun, with some great scenes talking about books and reading, a nice romance, and it does show that the influence of Jane Austen is felt across the world. If you get a chance to see it, please do. Here's the trailer

The final thing that I have done recently is to go  to a library event. They had put on a one woman show where the actor depicts acts as the author whilst dressed in accurate period clothing, sharing letters that she sent and received, as well as excerpts from Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility and Emma. Given that I have only recently read P&P, the section she read was very familiar to me!

You know one thing I haven't ever done? Watched the Colin Firth version of Pride and Prejudice from beginning to end. Maybe it is time to rectify that when we get back from holidays!