2007 Blog Tour - Day 13

More than half way through now. Are you all organised for the big day? I am....in my head! In actuality I'm nowhere near ready. Why is it that some people in your life are allowed to insist that I need to have a list for both myself and my son of what we would like, but when I ask them what they would like the answer is always 'oh, I don't know...anything'? Anyway...moving on!

Today we are visiting with Jill and with Stephanie.

Hope you enjoy their offerings!


13 December - Jill, Stephanie (Written Word)
14 December - Robyn
15 December - Alyssa,
16 December - Rachel
17 December - Literary Feline
18 December - Dev,Stephanie (Confessions of a Book-a-holic)
19 December - Callista
20 December - Tiny Little Librarian
21 December - Carla, Susan Higginbotham
22 December - Carolyn Jean
23 December - Booklogged
24 December - Kailana, Carl

2007 Blog Tour - Day 12

Today we are visiting Chris at Book-a-rama.

All aboard the Advent Calendar express.

2007 Blog Tour - Day 11

Only a couple more days and we will be half way through our blog tour! Can you believe it. The old cliche is true - Time flies when you are having fun!

Today, we are stopping off at Suey's blog, so don't forget to stop on by and see what goodies she has for us!

Christmas Spirit Award

I first saw this mentioned over at Dancin' Fools blog. Lady Banana has offered this badge to everyone who visits her blog as a way saying Merry Christmas. In order to snag this badge, you just need to visit her here.

It's really very cool! If you hold your cursor over the word Santa you can hear him!

I would love to pass this badge onto anyone who is participating in the Advent Calendar Blog Tour, whether you are posting or just reading along!

80's Music Nostalgia

You can't embed these videos, but I think that they are better to just listen to and then go...man I haven't heard that song in forever, and then to go searching for the full versions on Youtube!

The Top 20 songs of 1986

The Top 20 songs of 1985

I am sure that there are links for lots of other years. The question is can I stop myself from linking to them all! We will just start with those!

I do have an aside to this. I was just listening to the Top 20 songs of 1984. The number 1 song is Jump by Van Halen, and my son came into the room and said "That's the song that's in Herbie Full Loaded". What kind of cultural referencing does my child have??

Booking Through Thursday

For no really good reason that I can think of, I haven't managed to do the last three Booking Through Thursday Memes, so I thought I would do a bit of a catch up post!

From Thursday 19th November - Connecting Words

Okay, today’s question is going to be a little different. First, I’m posting it early because Thursday is Thanksgiving here in the U.S. and I’m going to be busy making and eating turkey as I’m sure some of you will also be, so I want to give everyone time to play. And two, because I’m basically going to link you through to somebody else’s blog with a question that I thought was pretty interesting.

Joanna and Brad are asking about “connecting words,” and they don’t mean conjunctions like “and” or “but.” No, what they’re looking for are unique, or treasured words that we’ve found out and about in our daily travels, words that might not be common usage, or often heard, but which struck a chord for some reason.

This is unorthodox, of course, but here’s the thing: if you link back to Joanna’s post (which is where the rules are written), you’re eligible to win a prize. Not to mention joining in some great conversation about interesting words.

I’m not sure if you’re supposed to leave a comment there or not. She only specifies that you should link to it in your post, but . . . I suppose a comment wouldn’t hurt. But, as always, comment here, too, please so that all of us can play along. I’ve already answered this one here.

I actually don't have an answer for this one, and looking at the comments it seems as though I wasn't really the only one! It did kind of make me laugh though that Deb posted the question early to allow for Thanksgiving, and I am still managing to even think about answering a couple of weeks late! Oh well!

From November 29 - Rolling

Do you get on a roll when you read, so that one book leads to the next, which leads to the next, and so on and so on?

I don’t so much mean something like reading a series from beginning to end, but, say, a string of books that all take place in Paris. Or that have anthropologists as the main character. Or were written in the same year. Something like that… Something that strings them together in your head, and yet, otherwise could be different genres, different authors…

I would have originally said no, not really to this question, but when I look back over the last few months I can definitely see some patterns forming, and most certainly in terms of things that happen in life that interconnect with my reading. For example, last month I read Barbed Wire and Roses by Peter Yeldham, and one of the themes in the book was about the treatment for soldiers who had shell-shock during WWI. Not long after that I watched a documentary on the difficulties that the soldiers who are returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are having in readjusting and not being treated for their medical issues. Last week, I watched another documentary on the History Channel, which investigated what happened to those soldiers that survived WWI but who were mentally scarred and suffering from shell shock.

Since reading that book I do seem to have been reading a bit more fiction that is set in either WWI and WWII, including right now, The Persimmon Tree by Bryce Courtenay which is set during WWII in the Pacific fronts. It all seems to tie in.

Another example of rolling is after reading The Arrival (a look at the immigrant experience with a fantasy setting_ not long ago I also read Unpolished Gem by Alice Pung which is the story of a young girl who was born in Australia of immigrant parents, and she is living the ever changing immigrant experience, trying to balance her home life with living in current day Australia

From December 6 - OOP

This week’s question is suggested by Island Editions:

Do you have a favourite book, now out of print, that you would like to see become available again? (I have several…)

It's probably a good thing that I have had a few days to think about this one, because initially I couldn't think of any, but now I have a couple that I haven't read but would really like to, and the works of another author that I loved when I read them just under 20 years ago.

First, the ones that I have read, but would really like to. I have heard such good things about Kathryn in the Court of Six Queens by Anne Merton Abbey but it does seem very difficult to find, and so far I haven't managed to do so.

The other one that I would really like to read is Phantom by Susan Kay Law. I am told that it is one of the best versions of Phantom around, but it seems to be another really hard one to find!

The author that I have read, but would love to see reprinted is Noel Barber. My aunt recommended his books to me when I was about 17 or 18, and once I read one, I just devoured them! I loved the fact that he wrote multi generational sagas featuring passionate relationships set against the world at war. Loved them. I have no idea if I would enjoy them if I reread them now, but I do enjoy the memory of them!

And now, I am all caught up on Booking Through Thursday....and there has been a bookish post on my blog! Yay!

2007 Blog Tour - Day 10

Today's stop on the blog tour express is at Dewey's blog.

Yesterday's posts were great. When I posted the links they weren't up yet, so when I went and visited it was fun to read some Christmas Carol riddles and about Christmas in New Orleans. I wonder what other goodies we have in store for us as the tour progresses.

Speaking of Advent Calendars, we are no longer opening one here at home because my son has surreptiously been eating all the chocolates from behind all the doors! Lucky I still have this one!

Christmas Music

I have been spending a little time over at Youtube, and thought I might post some videos of Christmas songs I really like!

2007 Blog Tour - Day 9

Today is kind of special in the blog tour, because it is one of only a few days where we have two places to visit.

The first is going to be at Raidergirl's blog, and the second is at Chris's blog, Stuff as Dreams are Made on.

As of this moment in time, their posts aren't up, but I am looking forward to seeing what they both have up later in the day!

December cooking challenge update

Saturday night - pork steaks with tangy tomato couscous and salad

Sunday night - wedding

Monday night - Hungry Jacks...whoops (our equivalent of Burger King)

Tuesday night - chicken in red wine and garlic marinade and salad.

Wednesday night - Red rooster (Roasted chicken and chips) - went swimming and was home far too late to cook

Thursday night - lamb chops with ratatouille, chips and vegies

Friday night - steak, packet pasta and vegies

Saturday night - out for dinner


So, my aim was to cook 5 nights a week, and I almost achieved that this week. I didn't exactly try a new recipe, but I hadn't had the tangy tomato couscous or pasta from Friday night before so I did try some new packet accompaniments!

I did spend some time this afternoon looking through a recipe magazine and there were a few things that caught my attention! I have to admit that looking through recipe magazines, and cook books is one of my great pleasures. Often times all I do is buy them and look through them and never cook anything out of them, but that's okay.

Book blog?

If anyone came to visit this blog anytime recently for the first time, they would be pretty hard pressed to identify this blog as a book blog!

I am not in a reading slump, but I am in a reviewing slump! I have only written three reviews since the beginning of November. In that same period I've read 22 books! Can anyone say 'oh my goodness I am so far behind' with me!

I was intending to write at least one review this weekend, but I don't think it is going to happen. Maybe some time during this week.

Social butterfly

Basically for the last three months I have been busy, busy, busy social life wise. In all that time, I only had one weekend where I haven't had anything planned. We've had visitors from interstate, I have been out to dinner numerous times, as well as to a show and a wedding, and I have to say I must have run out of babysitting credits with my sister because my son has stayed there so often. Basically, other than Christmas my next event that is already planned isn't until April! Normally, I would jokingly comment about not having a life, but just lately the idea of a weekend at home sounds very enticing!

Last night was the last of those events. I went out for dinner with my old boss and a couple of my friends who used to work with us. They are all in new jobs now, and I am the only one left in the same job. Apart from the fact that they spent ages telling me to get moving and get my resume together to look for a new job, it was a fun night.

We went to a place called Donovans at St Kilda. It is right on the beachfront in one of the trendiest areas in Melbourne. The ambience was great, the service was excellent, but I am not 100% sure that the food was worth the money. It's certainly the most expensive dinner I have ever had to pay for! We started by having dinner in their dining area which is quite casual in a designer kind of way, and then we ended up having dessert in their outdoor terrace section, watching the sun go down, and people watching everyone on the beach. We even had some people playing their drums on the sand not too far away so got entertainment as well.

After that, we went to Luna Park, which is a small amusement park that has been in St Kilda for many years. One of the girls had to bring her son with her, so we spent probably an hour or so in there whilst he went on a few of the rides. And then, the three of us who didn't have a kid with them went onto a pub that is quite nearby. Apparently it is a very popular place and it did seem like the perfect place to spend a summer's night.

We didn't stay terribly late, which is probably a good thing considering how quickly we get through the wine when we are drinking together, and even better, I didn't wake up with a terribly bad headache this morning, which is a definite bonus!

All in all, a fun, but expensive night!

2007 Blog Tour - Day 8

Today Nymeth has a link to some free Christmas music downloads, and a recipe for Portuguese Sweet Rice which sound delish!

The rest of the stops on the blog tour are:
9 December - Raidergirl, Chris
10 December - Dewey
11 December - Suey
12 December - Chris
13 December - Jill, Stephanie (Written Word)
14 December - Robyn
15 December - Alyssa,
16 December - Rachel
17 December - Literary Feline
18 December - Dev, Stephanie (Confessions of a Book-a-holic)
19 December - Callista
20 December - Tiny Little Librarian
21 December - Carla, Susan Higginbotham
22 December - Carolyn Jean
23 December - Booklogged
24 December - Kailana, Carl

2007 Blog Tour - Day 7

Today we are stopping off at Wendy's blog. She is talking about her memories of her grandparent's Christmas, and has another delicious sounding cookie recipe.

Which of Santa's Reindeer are you?

Saw this over at Wandeca Reads and thought it looked like fun! Not quite sure which answers I gave to get this result, but still......

You Are Dancer

Carefree and fun, you always find reasons to do a happy dance. Why You're Naughty: That dark stint you had as Santa's private dancer. Why You're Nice: You're friendly. Very friendly.

Which of Santa's Reindeer Are You?

How about you?

2007 Blog Tour - Day 6

Today, we are off to visit Laura! Laura is a new to me blogger, which is really cool because as much as I love to visit all of you, I do like to discover new blogs too!

Not only is her post about Christmas...it's also her daughter's birthday...so Happy Birthday to Julia!

2007 Blog Tour - Day 5

After taking a trip down memory with Valentina yesterday, we are now off to Melissa's blog, where she has a post up about Christmas Stories and a delicious sounding reciper for Hot Chocolate.

Enjoy!

Christmas Day forecast!

For all my talk about having a hot Christmas, I have just seen the extended weather forecast for Christmas Day. They are saying that they believe that it is going to only be about 17C (62F) here in Melbourne! That's the equivalent of a mild winter day for us!

2007 Blog Tour - Day 4

Thanks everyone who stopped by yesterday. I hope that everyone has enjoyed the posts so far.

Today, we are off to Valentina's Room to see what festive fun she will serve up!


This is where the tour is going to visit over the next couple of weeks:

5 December - Melissa
6 December - Laura
7 December - Wendy
8 December - Nymeth
9 December - Raidergirl, Chris
10 December - Dewey
11 December - Suey
12 December - Chris
13 December - Jill, Stephanie (Written Word)
14 December - Robyn
15 December - Alyssa,
16 December - Rachel
17 December - Literary Feline
18 December - Dev, Stephanie (Confessions of a Book-a-holic)
19 December - Callista
20 December - Tiny Little Librarian
21 December - Carla, Susan Higginbotham
22 December - Carolyn Jean
23 December - Booklogged
24 December - Kailana, Carl

There's still time if you want to join in the fun!

2007 Blog Tour - Day 3

Today you have not one, but two stops on the Advent Blog Tour. The first is at Lady Tink's blog, and the other is right here!

When I lived overseas, one of the things that amazed most people was the thought of having a hot Christmas. One thing that can be a little different is the food. My mother never cooked a hot Christmas lunch. The first time I ever had roast turkey was when I lived in England and had to cook it for ten people! Of course, now that it is other people who are doing the cooking she is more than happy to eat a hot lunch! One of the great things about Christmas lunch in Australia is that there is inevitably some seafood somewhere on the menu! Yum!

For me, it is of course normal to have a summer Christmas, but lots of people would ask if we spent Christmas at the beach. I can safely say that I have never spent all day Christmas Day at the beach. I have been down there at sunset on Christmas Eve with friends, which is always pleasant, but not during the whole day. Besides, how would your turkey taste if it was chocful of sand! Having said that, we do quite regularly end up in the pool on Christmas Day, which is great, especially when it's hot! One of the big advantages of having Christmas in the Australian summer is that you get to do lots of great outside activities. I spent my teenage years heavily involved in Salvation Army activities, so we used to go Christmas carolling around the streets, ending up at one of the church member's houses for a swim and a barbie!

That long introduction was leading up to me talking about something that is an Aussie tradition - Carols by Candlelight. Each of the major cities has a Carols by Candlelight service, with the ones from Sydney and Melbourne being televised across the country. Thousands and thousands of people crowd into a major park, bringing blankets, food, champers, and good company and spend the late afternoon waiting for it to start to get dark enough to start the carol service and most importantly, to light the candles, and at the end of the night....fireworks! Lots of famous singers participate (as well a few celebrities who would like to think that they can sing), the audience sings along, all the while helping to raise funds for some major charities.

However, even more fun are the local services that are held all over the suburbs. They can vary in size between really small, and quite large events depending on the area. One of the ones in my area is held at Werribee Mansion. The gardens become a huge picnic ground for several thousand people. The ice cream van does a brisk business, Santa inevitably makes an appearance and everyone goes home full of Christmas cheer. It is a perfect event for families to get together and spend some time together, although you do need to ensure that you remember the sunscreen and the insect repellent!

There were so many videos up on Youtube that I struggled to know which ones to choose, but in the end I have gone with Jessica Mauboy (runner up in Australian Idol last year) singing one more traditional carol, and a poppy Christmas song.







In closing,this is a fun sitewhere you can make yourself into an elf. It takes a while to load, but it's fun once you get it! So from my son and I, Merry Christmas!

Click here to Elf Yourself

Blog tour - Day 2

What a great start to our blog tour. Becky not only gave us cookies, but also a soundtrack to go with them!

Today we are off to visit Lisabea! Her post is up here!

Let the fun begin!

Well, it's hard to believe but the 1st of December is upon us, and that means it is time for our 2007 Blog Advent Tour to begin!

Our first stop is at Becky's blog! Can't wait to see what she comes up with!

The other thing that we need to do today is to draw the winner of the book that Kailana and I are giving away as part of this! I've allocated everyone a number, then gone to Random.org and generated the winning number! The winner of Christine Kringle by Lynn Britney is......Raidergirl! If you could email either Kailana or myself with your contact details we will organise for you to get your prize as soon as possible! Congratulations!

Once again, we would like to thank everyone who has signed up for our Blog tour this year. I hope you all have a lot of fun. Oh, and if you are inspired and want to join in, just leave a comment and we can still put you down for a day!

Let the blog tour fun begin!

Holly's December cooking challenge...with a twist!

The ever fabulous Holly has announced that she is doing a December cooking challenge where she is aiming to cook 5 new things every week for the month of December, and she has asked her fellow bloggers if anyone wants to join her. Now, I have to say that five new things a week is a bit much for me, but as long as I can modify the challenge a little, then I am going to participate!

So, what are my rules going to be? Well, I am going to challenge myself to say that I need to cook at least five nights of the week, and that I will try one new recipe. That may not sound much for most people, but for the last few weeks my son and I have been living on take-away. Tonight is the first night I have cooked a meal (that wasn't a chuck in the microwave frozen meal) in nearly two weeks. Shocking I know! The main reason for that is that I have been completely disorganised, but also by the time I have commuted for 3 hours total in the day, as well as done a full day of work I am exhausted by the time I get home and just thinking about what to cook is just a step too far. I know that it isn't exactly a great state of affairs, and probably explains why I am the size I am, and keep on gaining more weight, but I really want to do something about that as well. One thing that I am doing is to try and ween myself off of normal Coke and onto Coke Zero if I have to have Coke, or otherwise water. I know a lot of people think they taste the same but to me they taste completely different. It would be a start at least.

You can probably also expect at least one cookbook post. A few weeks ago I was thinking about doing some, and then it just never happened.

I did have one pleasant surprise today. I hate clothes shopping at the best of times, but I am going to a wedding tomorrow and so I needed to get something to wear. I went to a shop and the lady was really good. She bought me top after top that I would never have chosen to try on and they all looked really, really good. Instead of it being the usual....that will do...I actually had to choose between four tops. Unheard of! Of course, if I lost some weight then it would be much easier every time I went to the shops.

Christmas cards

So there has been basically no activity on this blog for months, and does that reflect how much card making I have been doing??? Sadly, the answer is pretty much. The only cards I have been making are the ones at the monthly workshops, and I have even missed the last two of those.

However, a couple of weekends ago, I suddenly starting making things again! Strange but true. Some of the photos are average, but you get the idea I am sure! Then today, a friend from the US wanted to see what I have been making, and so I posted them here! Then tonight, I was thinking,...I really should do a proper post, so here we are!




This card is a tri-fold card. All the way through making it I was unconvinced at how it would work out, but once I put it all together, I loved it, and now have made 3 in this colour, 3 in green, and will be making more to send out to people!



This one was just an idea I wanted to try with stripes of glitter. I have to say that I was pretty pleased with the way it worked out, but I think that if I make it again I will put the white card with the stripes on against a different colour card or something.




This was another messing around one, and in the end I was quite pleased with how it worked out, but it was a pain in the butt sticking all those little HO's on there!


I really like this one, and am probably going to make more of them. I also made one with 5 stars too. The fact that both the paper and the card are shimmery doesn't really show up, but IRL you can see it.



These two were made using the offcuts of the stars for the card above. The funny think is I was showing a girl at work and she loved them! Didn't have the heart to tell her that they literally took a couple of minutes to do!



Because I have actually been playing around, I do have a few more ideas, but we will see how we go in terms of actually putting them all together!


In the next couple of days I will post the cards that we were doing at the workshops.

2007 Advent Blog Tour

***************************STICKY POST*********************************


After the success of last years Advent blog tour, Kailana and I thought it would be fun if we had our own virtual advent calendar again this year. After all, why should the kids get all the fun of opening a box on the advent calendar and finding a little treat in there?

Each day anyone who wants to participate could take turns sharing a little treat with our friends here in blogland. For example it could be something about a holiday tradition, or a recipe, or a picture of a hot guy dressed as Santa, or a favourite Christmas memory, movie, song...anything you like. Even if you don't celebrate Christmas we would like to hear about what your family does during the holiday season, whether it be celebrating Hanukkah or Kwanzaa or anything!

We will create a list of links so that as people express interest we will add them to the list, and then we will post a link directing visitors to the appropriate blog. To give people a chance to get organised, we will start on Sunday 1 December. If there are more people than there are days that's fine too.....the more the merrier!

In addition to getting to see lots of fun things and maybe finding new blogs there is also a chance to win a copy of Christine Kingle by Lynn Brittney. We will draw the name of the winner out of the list of people who have signed up prior to the blog tour starting, so get in and sign up for your day soon!


1 December - Becky
2 December - Lisabea
3 December - Marg, Lady Tink
4 December - Valentina
5 December - Melissa
6 December - Laura
7 December - Wendy
8 December - Nymeth
9 December - Raidergirl, Chris
10 December - Dewey
11 December - Suey
12 December - Chris
13 December - Jill, Stephanie
14 December - Robyn
15 December - Alyssa
16 December - Rachel
17 December - Literary Feline
18 December - Dev
19 December - Callista
20 December - Tiny Little Librarian
21 December - Carla, Susan Higginbotham
22 December - Carolyn Jean
23 December - Booklogged
24 December - Kailana, Carl

Signing up is easy! Just leave a comment either on this post, or the similar one at Kailana's blog!

Priscilla

I was doing pretty well at NaBloPoMo...until last night that is! But I do have a relatively good reason for not having posted last night. I went to see the musical version of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. And the best thing was ....the ticket was free! One of the girls I work with won 20 tickets so there was a whole group of it. The show that night was full of ticket winners and there were a couple of cameos during the musical of stars from the radio station who were giving away the tickets!

The musical itself was pretty good...not the best I've ever seen but entertaining enough. The costumes were AMAZING! and the singing and music was great too! I was a little on edge because my boss's boss was sitting next to me, and she is a very polite and softly spoken lady who doesn't swear and lives a very clean life so every time the F bomb was dropped I flinched a little. She said today that she loved the costumes and songs, but felt it was a little too crude. She knew what the storyline was but even so it was a bit too over the top for her liking. I guess I was a little surprised that she was coming to see it in the first place but I guess it's hard to turn down a free ticket!

It ended up being quite a late night. I just missed the 11.05pm train, and so had to hang around on the platform for half an hour waiting for the next one. It was supposed to leave the city at 11.35pm and arrive at its destination (which is my station) at 12.25am. It left on time, but arrived 15 mins later than scheduled! And they can't even blame peak hour for being that late!! By the time I got home it was 12.45am, and given that I had to be up at 6am....no time for blogging!

In fact, I am thinking that it is very close to my bed time about now!

It is not too late

Don't forget about the Blog Tour that starts in a few days time. If you still want to participate then just leave a comment either on this post or on the Blog tour post.

I have been thinking about what I am going to post, but I am not 100% sure yet exactly what you will see as my contribution!

Not the smartest thing I have ever done!

So today I was on the phone talking to someone, and I decided that I really needed to clean my purse out at the same time...as you do! No problems at all! Except when I got to the train station tonight and there was an inspector there who wanted to check out tickets and I realised that I have thrown away the wrong train ticket today. Instead of throwing away the train ticket that expired two weeks ago, I have thrown away the ticket that still has two weeks to go before it expires! Not exactly the smartest thing I have ever done, and a complete waste of 75 bucks, which is what two weeks worth of train ticket is worth!

Our new Australian Idol

The last couple of days

Or perhaps this post should be subtitled 'where I gush some more about Paullina Simons!'

First, I will start with how gracious Paullina was when we met her. This below is a picture of all the books that Paullina signed for me. Obviously they are not all mine, but I was getting books signed for people who live in a few different countries where her books are not quite so available!



On Friday I took a day off work to go and see Paullina. I've never ever been to a book signing before, so I wasn't really all that sure what to expect. She was signing in the city at 12.30pm, so I wandered into the city carrying a pile of books and got to the venue about 12.15. I got in queue, and was only about 10 people from the front, but then I figured that seeing as I wasn't in very much of a hurry that I would wait for some friends from the forum. There was much texting of "how far away are you" but eventually there were three of us there so we took our place in line and waited. It was lucky to have others there that you knew because that definitely made the wait feel shorter.

As the line moved more towards the front it was obvious that she was taking time to chat with everyone and not just sign and move on! Now, I am sure that I have mentioned that I mod on her forum, and so spend quite a lot of time there. Mary (I have changed the names to protect the innocent!) was before me, and as the assistant said to are you Mary...THE Mary who posts on the forum?". And then she looked at me and said "And are you Marg?" which really surprised me, but she must have seen photos of us from the get togethers we have had in the past. When she got to me I explained that only one of the books that I had today was for me, but all the others were from other people. When I mentioned who the books that she was signing were for she knew exactly who I meant, and when I gave The Summer Garden to her to sign for one girl, Paullina knew that TSG was her favourite without me saying anything! She was extremely gracious, and said to me that I must be very busy, because she knew that I posted both on the official forum, and at Voy, and also blogged! She was so warm and gracious, and made us feel as though she was as pleased to see us as we were to see her. Then Sue behind me stepped up and Paullina not only took the time to find out who the she was and chat to her, but also to talk to her four year old daughter who had been waiting in line too. After that we said that we were all going to the dinner on Saturday night and we would see her there, and that was it. In the mean time someone else from the forum had turned up, so we waited for her to get through the queue and then went off and had some lunch together.

Then on Saturday night, we all gathered again for a dinner. Paullina took the time to come to our table a couple of times, and as soon as she came to the table she knew exactly who she had met previuosly and who she had not, which is pretty amazing when you consider how many people she must have met during the six events she had in Melbourne alone. I sat next to the mother of one of the girls from the forum, and we swapped book recommendations and reading stories, and generally had a really lovely time! It was also really good to catch up again with people who have become friends through the time we have spent together online, and also at the various meet ups we have had over the last couple of years!

The previous day when I got home I had gone on the forum and posted something along the lines of it's obvious that Paullina lurks a bit because she knew so much about us, and so I was really quite surprised when at the dinner she said "Now Marg, there is no reason for you to worry about me lurking!" which was a little embarrassing, but in the end it's not that I am worried, it was more that I was so surprised and thrilled!

For dinner we had chicken breast stuffed with cheese and pine nuts and something else, on a bed of tomato sauce and served with roasted potatoes, beans, peas and salad, and then sticky date pudding and ice cream for dessert. After dinner, Paullina got up and gave a 30 -40 minute presentation which was very entertaining, and featured some pictures of the places that Paullina went to as she went when she went on a research road trip as part of the writing process for Road to Paradise. She was funny and warm, and had the crowd in the palm of her hands. She certainly made me want to reread RTP now that I had very clear pictures of the journey that she took. A few questions from the audience and then it was time for more book signing.

We waited until the very end so that we could have a little more time, take some individual and group photos and have a chat, and it was really lovely. There will be some photos eventually, but of course, my camera batteries died even though I had recharged them the day before and hadn't used my camera at all! Always the way! Not that anyone wants to see photos of me anyway. I most certainly don't!

All in all, the last couple of days have been really great. Now that she has moved onto the next section of her tour I hope that the other fans really get to enjoy meeting her as well.

Now, I just need to get all those books posted to their relevant homes! I guess I am going to be making friends with the man at the post office this week!

Take me to your leader!

Actually, that might be a bit difficult at the moment because we are going through a transition period at the moment. We have a new Prime Minister elect, so the old Mrs Prime Minister will be frantically packing up her personal items so that she can get out of the Prime Ministers house as soon as possible, and the new lot can move in!

Kat has posted a list of some of the more interesting aspects of Australian elections. When I was living overseas the one that provoked the most interest was the fact that it is compulsory to vote in elections here. I guess that that is not strictly true. It is compulsory to get your name crossed off the electoral roll. In most people's case that means rocking up to your local polling station and getting your name crossed off. I guess though,if you are there, you might as well vote for real.

The worst thing I think about going to the polling station is having to run the gauntlet. There are people representing all the various parties and candidates there with their literature trying to get you to vote for their particular candidate. Talk about wasting paper!

Oh well....our civil duty is down for the next 3 to 4 years (for Federal elections anyway). Now let the broken promises begin!

Summer Reads 2007

The State Library of Victoria seems to run a new program nearly once every year, and they have just announced the new program which is called The Summer Read. The programs focuses on a selection of 20 book either set in Victoria or written by Victorian authors (last years was called Reading Victoria: 20 Novels Set Close to Home). The good thing about this type of program is that it at last brings to my attention a whole heap of authors that I probably wouldn't otherwise hear about.

The books this time are:

Company by Max Barry
A wonderful satire of corporate culture. If you like The Office this novel is for you.

Ron McCoy’s Sea of Diamonds by Gregory Day
Passion for the Australian coastline and mixed blessings of development.

The Lost Dog by Michelle de Kretser
Mystery and romance moving between current-day Australia and mid-20th-century India.

Chain of Evidence by Garry Disher
The latest DI Challis Peninsula crime novel.

The Beginner’s Guide to Winning the Nobel Prize by Peter Doherty
An inspiring account by Nobel prize winner Peter Doherty.

Broken by Ilsa Evans
Some things can never be fixed once they are broken.

Delinquent Angel by Diana Georgeff
Born secretly and adopted into a high-profile Victorian family.

Well Done, Those Men by Barry Heard
Experiences of life before, during and after the Vietnam War.

In My Skin by Kate Holden
Memoir of an educated, everyday girl arriving in the world of drugs and prostitution.

Diamond Dove by Adrian Hyland
Humorous narrative juxtaposed against a murder mystery in Central Australia’s Indigenous communities.

Dark Roots by Cate Kennedy
A collection of award-winning short stories.

Spiral Road by Adib Khan
Secrets unfold during a visit to a dying father in Bangladesh.

The Unexpected Elements of Love by Kate Legge
A story about balancing career and multi-generational family life.

Cricket Kings by William McInnes
Set in the western suburbs, this story is about much more than cricket.

Landscape of Farewell by Alex Miller
Everything changes when a feisty young Australian Aboriginal academic attends a lecture in Germany.

Dodging the Bull by Paul Mitchell
Strongly written, socially aware short stories set in Australia and abroad.

Patriot Act by James Phelan
A must-read for fans of the political thriller.

El Dorado by Dorothy Porter
A unique verse novel telling the story of a serial child-killer stalking the streets of Melbourne.

Unpolished Gem by Alice Pung
A warm family memoir of immigration and coming of age in multicultural Footscray.

Hoi Polloi by Craig Sherborne
A humorous autobiography about growing up in a New Zealand pub.

Of these books and authors, I have read a book by Garry Disher before, and have heard really good things about Unpolished Gem. This is a book that I will be reading in the next couple of weeks. Other than that I haven't really read any of them, or heard of some of them! I have to say The Lost Dog sounds great!

There is also a display on at the State Library which I might make an effort to go and see as well! Maybe!

Bubbles the Monkey sings Michael Jackson

This has been around for ages, I am sure, but I only saw it for the first time today, and it made me laugh, so I thought I would share it here!

It's oh so quiet!

My son is on school camp on the moment, which means I have a couple of nights off from parental duties! Last night, I worked late, and then came home and ate dinner and just enjoyed the silence - no TV, no music, no anything! So quiet. Truth be told, too quiet! Then I even managed to start making some Christmas cards! Shocking I know! All my card making things have been packed up for months!

Tonight I went out for dinner with friends, to a restaurant about 45 minutes away. The food was great, but man, the portion sizes were massive! They offered dessert and we were all saying "only if they come in a kids portion" which they don't!

I do have a bit of a rant though I suppose. I was driving home at 10pm at night, and got stuck in a traffic jam on the highway! How can that be? Well, it turns out that they are doing roadworks, and I understand that they need to do them some time because they can't do them during peak hour for obvious reasons, but why did they need to do them the one night in months that I will be driving down the road???

Tomorrow I have the day off of work, so I can sleep in a little, and then into the city for a book signing with Paullina Simons. Then it will be time to pick my son up again, and the noise will start all over again!

The more the merrier!

Whilst the Advent blog tour looks as though all the days are filled up, and they are, if you still want to participate, let us know. We are happy to double up on some days!

The more the merrier, I say!

Booksprice.com

Anything that helps make it easier to get cheap books has to be good, right?

Lucy from Booksprice.com recently sent me an email telling me about her new website. This is what she had to say:

Booksprice.com is a free service of finding the best price on books among the major online stores. Our real time engine can help you save as much as 80% from the retail price on new & used books, cds and dvds. We have introduce innovative features and tools like finding the best price of several books together, which might reduce the high shipping costs and save even more money. And now we are offering the new "RSS Price Watcher" that enables you to track the price of a specific book and with your own preferences (shipping, currency, condition, etc) using RSS feeds.

I've spent a little bit of time playing around on there tonight, and I am not so sure that it works for me, but for any of you US readers, it has definite possibilities!

In the interest of full disclosure, I am letting you know that I am getting a copy of this year's Booker Prize winner, The Gathering by Anne Enright. Posting about the site wasn't a prerequisite to getting the book, but I'm sure it won't hurt!

Paullina Simons interview

It probably hasn't escaped your attention over the last couple of weeks, that I am in the midst of a Paullina Simons obsession at the moment! It will probably calm down after the weekend when all the author events are over and done with!

In the meantime, so that others can share my obsession, below is a link to an interview that Paullina did on our Today Show this morning talking about Road to Paradise! I knew what she looked like, but I think I imagined a different, more Russian, accent!


Click here.

It's getting hot in here...

Man! We had our first day at nearly 100F (37C) temperature wise today! It's only November for goodness sake! I'm guessing that it's not going to be a good night for sleeping! Of course, what do you really need when it is that hot? An unairconditioned old clunker of a train. Beautiful!

As it is so hot, my brain is a little bit fried so just a quick update on the Advent calendar.

Whilst it may look as though there are only three spaces left, don't despair! What could possibly be better than one advent calendar treat each day......why two (or perhaps even three) advent treats! If you are interested in participating, then please put your names down and say what date you would like (if you want a specific day) and we will add you to the list.

The more the merrier!

Question

Does reading through a picture book for the second time (or third time!) count as a reread?

Advent tour update

What a great start. So far we have nearly filled up the entire first week and half of the second week of the blog tour! Can't wait to see what people come up with once it starts! Interestingly enough, so far everyone who has signed up are new people. No one who did the tour last year has signed up yet this year (other than Kailana and I of course!).

There are still lots of spots of left, so don't forget to sign up here.

This time next week

I will be sitting down to dinner at the literary dinner featuring Paullina Simons! I better start thinking about what to wear really! Can not wait!

The Arrival by Shaun Tan

What drives so many to leave everything behind and journey alone to a mysterious country, a place without family or friends, where everything is nameless and the future is unknown? This silent graphic novel is the story of every migrant, every refugee, every displaced person, and a tribute to all those who have made the journey.

I first saw this book mentioned over at Blogging for a Good Book. I hadn't actually heard of Shaun Tan at all before, but I have to tell you that on the basis of this book alone, I am now a fan.

The book itself is beautifully presented , all in shades of black, white and sepia, and all of the drawings are pencil on paper, with some digital colouring. The detailed drawings are amazing and the story is full of imagination and very touching. The story line is relevant and timely here in Australia, and I am sure in lots of other places in the world, especially in light of some recent comments made by Australian politicians about particular groups of immigrants.

The story itself is of a man who is forced by circumstance to leave his troubled homeland, leaving behind his family, and travel to a strange new country where everything is different, and I do mean everything. The food, animals, culture and language are completely strange, and the man is somewhat lost until there is a friendly face who will help him understand where to go and what to do. Many of these helpful people are others who have undergone a similar process, having had to learn the basics of things like how to cook, and having had to work in low paid and manual jobs in order to just survive in this strange new land.

There are literally no words at all in this book, at least not words that we can recognise. Where there are words on buildings and things they are in a strange symbolic language. The images and the storyline represented are so strong that no words are necessary. The use of elements of fantasy to represent the threat in the old homeland and some of the things that are found in the strange new world are a very strong symbolic reminder to us that for many people who migrate to countries like Australia the things that they find here that are every day to us are sometimes completely foreign to the migrants.

For some example images and some very interesting comments by the author, click here and then select The Arrival.

This book is highly recommended. A very poignant and vivid story told in a beautiful way. I already have my next Shaun Tan book on request from the library.

Rating: 5/5

Other blogger's thoughts:

Rebecca Reads

LOLinate your blog

I saw this over at Dewey's and thought it looked like a bit of fun!

This is what mine looks like! How about yours?

Preservatives

This week's Booking Through Thursday question:

Today’s question comes from Conspiracy-Girl:
I’m still relatively new to this meme so I’m not sure if this has been asked yet, but I’m curious how many of us write notes in our books. Are you a Footprint Leaver or a Preservationist?

Definitely, definitely a Preservationist! Maybe part of the reason is that I read so many library books, but I don't write in any books! At least not since I was in high school!

Yay!

I won a $10 Amazon voucher over at Jennifer Estep's blog! I am determined to use it on a book that I wouldn't normally be able to easily get hold of here, so I guess I am going to be spending a bit of time on Amazon trying to figure out what to get! Or perhaps, I should spend it on Jennifer's new book! I do have the first one in her series here, but I haven't read it yet.

No Regrets by Michele Ann Young

She couldn't believe he'd be attracted to a body like hers...

Voluptuous and large, Caroline Torrington feels dowdy and unattractive beside the slim beauties of her day. Little does she know that Lord Lucas Foxhaven thinks her curves are breathtaking, and can barely keep his hands off her. But he won't allow himself to betray her trust in their marriage of convenience - and misunderstanding. Every time he pulls away, Caro thinks he's disgusted by her. But when Caro becomes involved in a scandal and is kidnapped, Lucas must come to her rescue, and they realize that their mutual attraction and lifelong love make theirs a true marriage of the heart.

I actually finished this book a couple of weeks ago, but I have been trying to compose my thoughts enough to write a review ever since. I am not sure that I am there yet, but we will give it ago.

The novel opens with a scene which I found really enjoyable - a grand gesture which would cause shock waves throughout society, but from such a promising start, it seemed as though the story either varied between pretty standard romance fare (liberal doses of a big misunderstanding with no communication between the two main characters) and then trying to fit so much into the storyline, with Caro running off to Paris, and a kidnapping amongst other things.

In terms of the characters, Lucas is once again a rake who is not necessarily a true rake - he has a big secret that he keeps from his wife. She assumes that he doesn't want her, and that he must therefore have a mistress. In reality, he, of course, has a heart of gold!

As for Caro, there are the odd comments throughout the story about how she had to use her glasses and how she wasn't slim, but to be honest I never got any picture that Caro was all that large. After all, Lucas didn't seem to have any trouble lifting her at various points in the story. This would have been a major point of difference! Maybe it's just that I want some hope that someone my size could actually meet someone!

Whilst it may appear that everything that I have written is somewhat disparaging towards the book, I would say that there is nothing truly terrible in the book. It is readable, and the characters are likable enough. Where other writers can take a story that we have read many times before and write it so well that we still love it, the author here has had a few interesting ideas but not quite been able to sustain the momentum throughout the book.

I will say that I did find the idea of the heroine travelling to Paris something that I have never read before, and quite an interesting twist.

In the end this was an average read. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Sourcebooks for sending me a review copy of this book.

Rating 3.5/5

We have a winner .... and a few other bits and pieces!

First things first...the winner of the Paullina Simons giveaway is.....




ZEEK


Congratulations Zeek! Email your address details to me (details on my profile!) and I will get the book on it's way to you! Thanks to everyone who entered my first ever giveaway!


Speaking of giveaways, Kelly from Loaded Questions is giving away an ARC of Lauren Willig's next book, The Seduction of the Crimson Rose over at her blog! Willig's Pink Carnation series is a really fun spy caper/historical romance. I have read all the previous books in the series, and really enjoyed them. If you haven't read any of Lauren's books, you can read my reviews of them by clicking here.

There are two ways to enter the giveaway. First, you can subscribe to Loaded Questions, or you can send Kelly an email. You can read all the details here!

Following on from the Remembrance Day post I had up here, I also posted a review of Barbed Wire and Roses by Peter Yeldham over at Historical Tapestry. I meant to say something here but I forgot! Whoops!

My final bit of news today is that it is my 2nd anniversary of starting this blog! Who knew it would last this long!

Remembrance Day

Paullina Simons giveaway

*****************STICKY POST***********************




I don't normally do a lot of posts about what I am reading now, I am more inclined to post once I have actually finished the book. I am, however, going to make an exception today and I promise there is a good reason for doing so!

Today, I started reading Paullina Simons' new book, which is called Road to Paradise! I am a total Paullina fan girl, having been introduced to her writing through the fabulous The Bronze Horseman, and then going on to read the other books in the trilogy, and then most of her other books. I do have two of her books still left to read that I will get to eventually. In fact, I am such a fan girl, I am going to not one but two events when Paullina tours Australia later in November.

As much as I love to spread the Paullina Simons love, there is a major problem. Her books are so darned hard to come by, particularly in the US. Whilst it appears as though Road to Paradise is being released in Canada next month, the release date is much later in the UK, and who knows when it will be released in the US. So, I have decided that I will do a little something to help rectify this and I am going to give away a copy of Road to Paradise! Who knows, I might even throw in a copy of Tatiana's Table (or one of her other books) as well, depending on postage costs.

All you need to do is leave a comment on this post before Sunday 11 November.

It's 1981 and Shelby Sloane gets a canary yellow Mustang convertible as a graduation present. She plans an odyssey to find her mother who left her many years earlier. When Shelby's former best friend Gina asks to come along, Shelby reluctantly agrees.

When they see a young woman hitchhiking on the side of a country road, they don't want to pick her up. They turn their gaze away. But days later, they find her again. Candy gets in. She needs to get to Paradise – that's Paradise, California. But she is beset by dangers on a scale beyond the wildest imaginings of Shelby and Gina. She sucks them into her treacherous world and her own frightful journey.

The ride that began with high spirits and good humour proceeds into the darkest backroads of America, when Shelby, Candy and Gina are forced to make real moral choices that have critical consequences for their future, and by their ordeals they take a very different journey.

In case you are interested you can read my review of The Summer Garden, the third book in the Bronze Horseman trilogy by clicking on the link.

Don't forget

Only a couple more days to put your name into the draw to win Paullina Simons new book Road to Paradise!

See the details here.

Volume

This weeks Booking Through Thursday question

Would you say that you read about the same amount now as when you were younger? More? Less?
Why?

I would say that I definitely read more now than I did as a kid, and certainly more than I did 10 years. Part of the reason for that is that I have dedicated reading time during my commute each day.

10 years ago, I was in the middle of a stretch of about 5 or 6 years where I would have been lucky to read one or two books a year - hard to believe, but true! I am glad that that stretch is over!

Searching for....

... a post!

I thought I had it all figured out. I have posts lined up for most days over the next week or so, but then tonight...no Booking Through Thursday post yet!

It's not that I don't have a gazillion posts in draft but more that I am too tired out to think of anything more interesting tonight! Maybe I will do better tomorrow!

Go you good thing!

Well...it turns out that I wasn't going to forget to watch the Melbourne Cup yesterday! I ended up going to a family member's house...just for nibbles mind...and to watch the race!

Her idea of catering is always food, food and more food, and yesterday was no exception! For starters there was biscuits and dip (corn relish and cream cheese...yum!) and then there were six different types of nibblies (including but not limited to sausage rolls, party pies, chicken chips) followed by roast pork, scalloped potatoes, salad and bread, and then finishing with a choice of six different desserts, and then chocolates! Just nibblies.

Anyway, we ended up watching quite a few of the races, including the big one! We had a sweep for the Melbourne Cup - and I won! Only $14 but it's the principal. It's not every day that you can go somewhere and eat, and come home with more money than you started with!

The race that stops a nation

Otherwise known as the Melbourne Cup, is run today! And because of that, lots of people in Melbourne get the day off. 100, 000 or so will head off to Flemington to watch the horses run, but for the rest of us, it is just a day off!

If I remember, I will either watch or listen to the race, although I completely missed it last year!

For many people, this is the one race of the year that they will have a bet on, but I don't think I will even be doing that this year.

What will I be doing instead? Hopefully relaxing. I have spent the last two days playing tour guide around Melbourne, and I need to recover now!

Hot Mama!

No....not me!

In honour of the release of her new book, Jennifer Estep is having a 12 Days of Bigtime contest - 12 days of prizes, which include Amazon gift vouchers, autographed books etc! You can find the details at Jennifer's blog.



She can melt steel – and men’s hearts …

By day, Fiona Fine is a successful couture designer, catering to the high society players of Bigtime, New York. By night, she’s Fiera, a superstrong superhero who can create and manipulate fire with her bare hands. Fiera, along with the other members of the heroic Fearless Five, make life miserable for the ubervillains who want to take over the city.

But Fiona’s personal life isn’t so fine. She still misses her fiancé, who was killed by ubervillains a year ago. But men admire Fiona’s smoking assets, and she decides to get back in the dating game – especially after she meets Johnny Bulluci. But this notorious playboy has plenty of secrets to go along with his sexy smile. And, with two new ubervillains in town who are intent on raising hell, Fiona’s love life might just crash and burn …

Hot Mama Details

n Release date: Nov. 6, 2007

n Pages: 356

n Price: $14

n Format: Trade paperback

n Publisher: Berkley Books

n ISBN-10: 0425217345

n ISBN-13: 978-0425217344

Nineteen by Redgum

I heard this song on the radio yesterday for the first time in years, and I realised afresh how poignant the words are, especially seeing as over the last couple of weeks we have had our first fatalities in active combat in Afghanistan. Australia has been very lucky not to have lost more of our brave diggers so far in either Afghanistan or Iraq.