Teaser Tuesday: Lost and Found by Marilyn Harris

Not too long ago a couple of my Goodreads pals were reading the Eden series by this author, and they were all raving about them. My library didn't have any of Marilyn Harris' books at all, and even through inter-library loan there are only a couple of her books available, and only one of the series (and it isn't the first one in the series) and so I decided that I would start with this book from her.

The teaser comes from page 74:

She looked back to see Harold Shoda still staring at her as though she'd grown another head. "Are you coming?"

"Why, yes," he muttered, and took his troubled expression all the way to the door, where he extended a hand to the county coroner, a rail-thin man with a small black bag.

"Mr Dixon," he said, and introduced him to Florence, who assumed the pose and posture of the grieving widow and thrust her handkerchief to her lips, though truth be known she was thinking less about poor Stanley and more about poor Florence....

Teaser Tuesday is hosted by Miz B at Should Be Reading. Head on over to find out all about it, and how to join in! 

A Wartime Evacuee's Christmas

Today's quote comes from The Very Thought of You by Rosie Alison, which is the story of a young girl who is evacuated from war time London to a big house in the country.

Some of the evacuees never got letters, but they still could not resist hovering on the outside edge of the letter crowd with forlorn eyes. Yet even for those who were remembered, there was still a dull ache of homesickness which never really eased, running like a buried river through their daily lives.

December, in particular, was a time when many of the children grew sad, and in the years to come, Anna would never forget her wartime Christmases so far from home. But she would remember, too, how generous the Ashtons were, always making sure that every evacuee had a gift under the tree. And how on Christmas Day itself they all shared a hearty lunch, with the rare treat of roast chicken and crispy potatoes, with plenty more vegetables from the grounds.

Yet none of those consolotions could ever quite staunch the Christmas night tears in the dormitories. The remembrance of home, of mothers, of fathers. The emotional wasteland of their lives without them. It would take years for many of them to dare to love again.

Sunday Salon: BTL Live!

Today Bree from All the Books I Can Read and I were lucky enough to be part of a group of Melbourne bloggers who visited the headquarters of Penguin Australia! The event was BTLLive! - an opportunity to showcase the YA titles that are going to be published by Penguin in the coming six months or so, and I have to tell you, there are some fun titles coming out!

In case you are wondering BTL stands for Between the Lines which is the name of the YA publicity team at Penguin. You can check out their blog here.

The morning started with a live chat with Marie Lu, author of the book Legend which has been recently released here and is receiving some good reviews! Apart with having to deal with the delay each time a question was asked and answered the cross was a lot of fun, and it was great to have the opportunity to discuss a book and it's sequel in that way with the author.

Marie talked about where the idea for Legend came from, the movie adaptation which is the book, the characters in the book and so much more! The idea for the book was inspired by watching Les Miserables and also from wondering what the world would look like if the sea levels rose around the world due to the melting of the polar ice caps!

She also said that in the second book in the series we would see more of the impact of the environmental changes around the world rather than just in Los Angeles which is where Legend is set. That did lead to a very important question for those of us in the room - Does Australia exist in this new world? The short answer is not as we know it now!

Other questions she answered were in relation to her favourite reads of the moment, how her main characters evolved, her reading background which consists mainly of spec fic reads and a lot more!

The second guest for the day was Gabrielle Williams who is an Australian author. Her previous book was Beatle Meets Destiny and her next book which is going to be released in February is called The Reluctant Hallelujah. I really enjoyed listening to Gabrielle as she talked through the amazing writing process that she went through for this book (she basically wrote a chapter a day thanks to the hard driving encouragement of her husband), and how that writing process was made easier as she worked through the various elements that have come to make up the story. Some of the particular inspirations for the book included her own children and also a famous, famous movie which includes a main character called Dorothy and some characters who are missing some parts!

Gab Williams talked about her background in advertising, about the fact that the book most likely won't be picked up in America due to the irreverent nature of the subject matter (the cover might give a little clue about some of that aspect), about her previous manuscripts, about being a very character driven writer and also a few little details about her next book after this one!

The third part of the official proceeding was a look at some of the upcoming titles. Here are just some of the covers for books that were talked about!

Other titles included:

Losing It by Julia Lawrinson
A Million Suns by Beth Revis
Dark Eyes by William Richter
Immortal City by Scott Speer
Disharmony by Leah Giarratano

There was a lot of excitement in the room for the Kirsty Eager and Leah Giarratano books, as well as the release later in 2012 of Isla and the Happy Ever After by Stephanie Perkins.

There were several other books also mentioned during the day as well, but this is already quite the long list!

There was also an unofficial part of the day where there was going to be a video made to be sent to John and Hank Green, but I have had a headache since yesterday and so it was time to go home for me!

Special thanks to the BTL team from Penguin both for the day, and for the loot we picked up (both of which will count towards the Australian Women Writer's Challenge that I will be participating in in 2012 so you will hear more about them then). It was also awesome to catch up with some Melbourne bloggers I already knew, but also to meet some new ones!

I look forward to attending another BTL Live day in the future!

John Baxter's first French Christmas

For last week's Weekend Cooking post I reviewed John Baxter's Immovable Feast: A Paris Christmas. My quote today comes from that book and is describing the author's first French Christmas with his new extended family.

This quote comes from page 19:

With Jean-Paul present, the meal could begin. A few minutes later, he took his place at the head of the table, and the other dozen guests arranged themselves, with me at the foot.

The marathon of Christmas dinner commenced.

I'd been warned what to expect. After the foie gras, we'd be enjoying white boudin veal sausage  with fried apple, then roast pintade - or guinea fowl - a grating dauphinois of sliced potatoes baked with cheese and cream, accompanied by green beans and carrots, followed by cheese, and Francoise's twenty-five-egg mousse - each course with its wine, including champagne with the dessert.

The goose liver was delicious enough for one to spare little thought for the poor bird that produced it.We smeared it into fresh white pain,, larger brother of the more familiar baguette, washing it down with '84 Bordeaux from Madame's own cave - which was literally cave, hollowed out of the rock on which this house was built.

The women never stopped handing around plates, offering more foie gras, and returning to the kitchen for bread or cornichons. Jean-Paul exchanged a few phlegmatic words with Jean=Marie, then fell silent. From time to time he would tilt a wine bottle away from him and stare at the label, as if it might have changed miraculously into a better year.

Page 19 - Immoveable Feast - A Paris Christmas

Weekend Cooking: Sunbird by Neil Gaiman

Sunbird is one of the short stories in the Fragile Things short story collection by Neil Gaiman that I finished reading at the end of October as part of the readalong during RIP VI. Now you would have thought after 8 weeks of posts about this short story collection that I wouldn't have much more to say about it, but you would be wrong!

I do have to warn you though, these quotes are not really our standard Weekend Cooking fare, but I thought they were fun so I had to share them.

Let's meet the members of the Epicurean Club. First there is Augustus TwoFeathers McCoy ("big enough for three men, who ate enough for four men and drank enough for five"), also Professor Mandalay ("who drank nothing but water, and who ate doll-sized portions from plates the size of saucers"), and the food and restaurant critic Virginia Boote (""who had once been a great beauty but was now a grand and magnificent ruin, and who delighted in her ruination"). The fourth member of the club was Jackie Newhouse ("who had both broken his share of hearts and eaten his share of great dishes") and rounding out the group is Zebediah T Crawcrustle (flat out broke, drunken and yet he "ate with more appetite than any of them").

After running through a list of the many exotic foods that they have eaten including flash froze mammoth and Patagonion Giant sloths ("if we had but gotten to the mammoth earlier"), beetles ("when you've tasted one beetle you've tasted them all"), vultures ("tasted like rotten pheasant") the group come to the conclusion that they have eaten just about everything there is to eat:

We have scaled the heights of gastronomy, we have plunged down into the depths of gustation. We have become cosmonauts exploring undreamed of worlds of delectation and gourmanderie. 

Augustus declares that it might be time to close the Epicurean club if there are no exceptional foodie experiences left when Zebediah suggests that there is one great experience that they have left untried - the Sunbird. So all the club members head off to Cairo and set the plans in motion to catch the Sunbird.

After successfully catching it, the plan is to cook it in what is a suspiciously tongue in cheek representation of any barbecue that you might attend, including a Kiss the Cook apron!

I can't tell you what happens precisely, but it surprising, especially when you realise that another name for the sunbird might be the more familiar name of phoenix.

This was one of my favourite stories from the collection, and I knew as soon as I read it that I wanted to do something with the story for a Weekend Cooking post.

There are two questions that I am prompted to ask - what's the strangest thing you have ever eaten and how far would you be prepared to go for a special meal?

Weekend Cooking is hosted by Beth Fish Reads and 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, fabulous quotations, photographs

Christmas in Wattle Street - Marija

The third and final character that I am going to introduce you to for these posts is Marija who is struggling with the idea of a hot Christmas, something that seems quite normal to us Southern Hemisphere peeps! There are lots of other characters to meet in the pages of Empire Day by Diane Chamberlain, not just the three I have introduced you to over the last few days!

Page 226-227

Marija Olmanis was thinking about Christmas too. Christmas in Latvia. Walking to church on Christmas Eve on snow that creaked under her fur-lined boots, placing Advent wreaths in the front of her home, watching the mummers who visited homes to bless the occupants and drive out evil spirits. And preparing the traditional food: brown peas with bacon, beef pies filled with cabbage, yeast cake with chopped almonds and cardamon, and ginger biscuits that made the whole house smell wonderful and which they ate with a drink made from honey, cranberries, rye bread and whipped cream. In Latvia, St Nicholas didn't arrive with gifts on just one night, he stopped by every evening for twelve wonderful nights.

Page 227 - 228

Marija wiped the sweat from her forehead and neck. Christmas in sweltering heat, without snow or ice, skating or toboganning, wasn't Christmas. Even the sky here was different. Whenever she looked up at night, she couldn't find any familiar stars.

Christmas in Wattle Street - Kath

In today's excerpts from Empire Day by Diane Chamberlain we hear part of Kath's story: Kath is a single mum, battling to make ends meet, and also having to deal with the serious illness of one of her children.

This one is for the battlers.

Page 216:

Christmas was approaching and she regretted her reckless outburst at the pub. Now that she'd lost her job, she wondered how she's make ends meet, let alone provide Christmas dinner and buy gifts for the boys. She felt she'd fallen into a deep well without a rope or a ladder to climb out. She'd never felt so alone or so desperate. Jobs were scarce, and with Christmas only weeks away, her chance of finding one was slim. And to make things even worse, Meggsie wouldn't be home for Christmas

Page 226:

Across the road Kath sat at the kitchen table trying to figure out how she could stretch her meagre savings to put Christmas dinner on the table and buy something for the boys as well.

A few times lately , whenever she'd passed the red telephone box on the corner, she'd been on the verge of swallowing her pride and ringing Gran, but at the last moment the thought of going begging, and then having to listen to her grandmother's acid comments, had changed her mind.

Kath didn't care about Christmas for herself but she did want to try and make it special for the boys, especially little Pete. But what kind of Christmas would it be, with Meggsie still in hospital, unable to work, and no one knowing when he'd recover?

"I'd better start praying for a miracle because that's the only thing that'll help me," she mutter to herself.

2012 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

If you head over to Historical Tapestry, the sign up post for next years Historical Fiction Reading Challenge is now up!

Once again, you can choose what level of participation you wish to have, varying from just a couple of books to 20 (or more!)

I am of course signing up for the highest level of participation and so will be aiming to read 20 historical fiction novels next year. The likelihood is that I will read more though!

Once again, Alex has done a fabulous job with the button for the challenge!

Click on the button below to be whisked away to Historical Tapestry and don't forget to grab the code so that you can add it to your own blog too!

Christmas in Wattle Street - Hania

Over the next couple of weeks I am going to bring you a number of quotes from a book called Empire Day by Australian author Diane Chamberlain. In the first three quotes which I will post next week, the characters look back to the Christmas festivities in their native countries, and in the excerpts next week, the characters talk about their first summer Christmas here in Australia. The book is set just after the end of World War II predominantly in Sydney.

This quote comes from page 224-225 Empire Day by Diane Chamberlain

Hania hated the idea of Christmas in Australia. In Poland, with her foster parents, it had been different. Shivers still ran down her spine whenever she thought of the hushed atmosphere in the church on Christmas Eve, with the flickering candles, the smoky smell of incense and the soulful voices chanting and praying. After Mass, she'd look forward to the traditional spicy beetroot borsch with potato pirogi. Her foster father would lug home a huge fir tree and the house would be filled with a sharp piney smell. Then they'd hang shiny baubles and coloured stars on the ends of the branches and arrange gifts around the tree.

By way of explanation, Hania was actually a young Jewish girl who was fostered by a Catholic family to keep her safe during World War II. Now, she is in Australia with her mother so not only is she looking back on Christmas in another country, but also in effect a whole other life.

Library Loot: December 7 to 13

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!

Not much loot to pick up this week, mainly because my card is still a bit full, but that is good for my reading schedule too. This week I think I am actually taking back more than I am borrowing.

The books I did pick up were:

Far Fly the Eagles by Evelyn Anthony - The third book in the Romanov trilogy.

A Beautiful Life by Irfan Master - I added this to my TBR pile after I saw a couple of posts about the book being mentioned at the recent Publisher's Showcase which was run by the Centre for Youth Literature at the Melbourne Library. I think it caught my attention because it is YA historical fiction, but to be honest the blurb doesn't really sell it as being that at all. Might be a bit of a shock when I actually start to read it!

That's it for me this week. Head over to the Claire's blog to leave your link at Mr Linky.

A POW Christmas

I was so excited when I saw who had signed up for today's Virtual Advent tour. I didn't however want to make a fuss over at the actual Virtual Advent blog because, you know, I didn't want to add any extra pressure or make anyone else who is contributing feel underappreciated! So I am going to have to make the fuss here.

Oh my goodness! Susanna Kearsley is participating in the Virtual Advent tour today!!!

Okay....can calm down again now!

Now that is out of the way, here is my quote for today, which follows on from yesterdays quote from Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand.



From pages 268-269 of Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

On Christmas Eve, some Red Cross packages were finally handed out. Louie wrote triumphantly of it in his diary. His box, weighing some eleven pounds, contained corned beef, cheese, pate, salmon, butter, jam, chocolate, prunes, and four packs of Chesterfields. All evening long, the men of Omori traded goods, smoked and gorged themselves.

That night, there was another treat, and it came about as the result of a series of curious events. Among the POWs was a chronically unwahsed, ingeneous, and possibly insane kleptomaniac named Mansfield. Shortly beforeChristmas, Mansfield broke into the storehouse - slipping past seven guards - and made off with several Red Cross packages, which he buried under his barracks. Discovering his cache, guards locked him in a cell. Mansfield broke out, stole sixteen more parcels, and snuck them back into his cell. He hid the contents of the packages in a secret compartment he'd fashioned himself, marking the door with a message for other POWs: Food, help yourself, lift here. Caught again, he was tied to a tree in the snow without food or water, wearing only pajamas and beaten. By one account, he was left there for ten days. Late one night, when Louie was walking back from the benjo, he saw the camp interpreter, Yukichi Kano, kneeling beside Mansfiedl, draping a blanket over him. The next morning, the blanket was gone, retrieved before the Bird could see it. Eventually, Mansfield was untied and taken to a civilian prison, where he flourished.

The one good consequence of this event was that in the storehouse, Mansfield had discovered a Red Cross theatrical trunk. He told other POWs about it, and this gave the men the idea of boosting morale by staging a Christmas play. They secured the Bird's approval by stroking his ego, naming him "master of ceremonies" and giving him a throne at the front of the "theater" - the bathhouse - outfitted with planks perched on washtubs to serve as a stage. The men decided to put on a musical production of Cinderella, written, with creative liberties, by a British POW. Frank Tinker put his operatic gifts to work as Prince Leander of Pantoland. The Fairy Godmother was played by a mountainout cockney Brit dressed in a tutu and tights. Characters included Lady Dia Riere and Lady Gonna Riere. Louie thought it was the funniest thing he'd ever seen. Private Kano translated for the guards, who sat in the back, laughing and clapping. The Bird gloried in the limelight, and for that night, he let Louie and the others be.

At Zentsuji, Christmas came to Phil and Fred Garrett. Some POWs scrounged up musical instruments  and assembled in the camp. Before seven hundred starving men, they played rousing music as the men sang along. They ended with the national anthems of England, Holland, and the United States. The Zentsuji POWs stood together at attention in silence, thinking of home.

Teaser Tuesday: Rocks in the Belly by Jon Bauer

One of the good things about being in a book club is that you some times step outside of your comfort zone and either start, or have to keep, reading something that you wouldn't normally read. That is definitely the case when it comes to this book which is my December book club read.

The teaser comes from very early in the book and I liked it instantly because having lived overseas for an extended period of time I can definitely testify to the intrinsic truth of the statement (not that I tried to disavow myself entirely of my past). The teaser comes from page 1:

But I can still feel it, despite moving overseas, disavowing myself entirely of my past. It doesn't matter where you go, or what you do with your feelings, your truth lies in wait.

Having read some more of the book I am not sure that I really want to be able to empathise with the main character but I had no idea of that when I chose this teaser!

Teaser Tuesday is hosted by Miz B at Should Be Reading. Head on over to find out all about it, and how to join in! 

A war time Christmas

Today's quote comes from Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. Her book tells of a young Olympian who is taken as a prisoner of war during World War II. Not only did I choose this passage because of the sentiment within the context of the the book, but also to take a moment to honour those who will be away from their families this Christmas because they are serving their countries.

It is not too late to join in the tour this year. You can still sign up at the sign up post.

From page 215 of Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

In December 1943, the family prepared to celebrate their first Christmas without Louie. The mailman knocked at the door each day to deliver a harvest of cards and letters, most of them offering sympathy. The holiday tree was strung with popcorn and cranberries, and beneath it sat a collection of gifts for Louie. The gifts would be tucked away in the belief that one day, Louie would come home to open them himself.

Louise bought a little Christmas card depicting a cherub in a red dress blowing a horn as she stood surrounded by lambs. Inside she wrote a message:

Dear Louis. Where ever you are, I know you want us to think of you as well and safe. May God be with you + guide you.Love from all. Mother Dad Pete Sylvia and Virginia. Christmas 25-43

Check back tomorrow to hear about a POW Christmas from this same book.

Busted in Bollywood by Nicola Marsh

Shari Jones needs to get a life. Preferably someone else’s.

Single, homeless and jobless, Indo-American Shari agrees to her best friend’s whacky scheme: travel to Mumbai, pose as Amrita, and ditch the fiancé her traditional Indian parents have chosen. Simple. Until she’s mistaken for a famous Bollywood actress, stalked by a Lone Ranger wannabe, courted by an English lord, and busted by the blackmailing fiancé.

Life is less complicated in New York.

Or so she thinks, until the entourage of crazies follows her to the Big Apple and that’s when the fun really begins. Shari deals with a blossoming romance, an addiction to Indian food and her first movie role, while secretly craving another trip to the mystical land responsible for sparking her new lease on life. Returning to her Indian birthplace, she has an epiphany. Maybe the happily-ever-after of her dreams isn’t so far away?

Shari Jones has made a mess of her life. She's lost her boyfriend, her home and her job in one fell swoop, and yes, all those things are connected. So when her best friend Amrita gives her the chance to head to India to impersonate her Shari doesn't have anything to lose. All she has to do is dump the fiance that Amrita's parents have arranged for her to marry and then head back Stateside. Easy. Or not as the case may be.

Shari was born in India to an Indian mother and an American father, but she has lived most of her life in the US. When she arrives in India she is almost overwhelmed by the sights, the sounds, the atmosphere, the food and more. It turns out that the fiance, Rakesh, is really a good guy and a pretty good sport given that he knows that Shari isn't who she is pretending to be almost immediately. He goes along with the charade though in order to protect Shari and Amrita from his overbearing family, but only on the condition that he gets to meet the real Amrita and to find out why he isn't good enough for her.

In addition to having to navigate the perils of Rakesh's mother and sisters there is also the small matter of Rakesh's business partner, Drew, who is instantly suspicious about Shari's intentions and to whom Shari is very attracted.

This was a fun and flirty read, and touched on some interesting issues like prejudice and living life with two cultural identities (this is a subject that I often find interesting because of my son's mixed heritage, especially seeing as his African cultural experiences are very limited). I would suggest that this very nearly sits in the category of chick lit as well as contemporary romance. The voice is first person, the characters are often brand name dropping and for all the being broke, they seem to be able to indulge in wearing and shopping for very expensive clothes and more.

There are small issues - some of the characters are a little two dimensional, and the connection between Drew and Shari is very physical for example - but if you are looking for a fun read which has a different setting to so many of the other contemporary romances that are out there at the moment then this might be the book for you! If nothing else you will be craving Indian food! All the food mentioned in the book sounded exotic and tasty and oh so good!

I should mention in relation to the food that Nicola Marsh is currently doing a blog tour where she shares some of the recipes for food mentioned in the book. I am hoping that there will be something that I can make in amongst those recipes and I will try to do a Weekend Cooking post accordingly.

As long as you go into this book expecting that all the women are beautiful, the men all rich and handsome, a little bit of inane humour and lots of fun, then you will have a good time reading it.

Thanks to Netgalley and Entangled Publishers for the egalley of this book.

A Silver Lake Christmas

My quotes for today come from the historical fiction novel The Countess Angelique, part of the Angelique series written by Sergeanne Golon. It was originally published in the 1960s and some of the covers are very....coquettish. In this volume of Angelique's adventures she find herself living on the wild frontiers of the Americas.

Please note I have omitted a couple of character names because their inclusion in this passage might spoil some events from previous books in the series.

The first part of the quote comes from page 370.

So there really was a Christmas spirit in the camp. No task seeemed on too heavy, everything was done cheerfully.  They laughed on the slightest pretext and caught themselves humming or whistling snatches of old refrains.

The everlasting boiled maize and smoked meat were eaten cheerfully with many a joke during happy mealtimes kept warm with good humoured conversation. They were all good friends, good companions, they understood one another, and supported one another. Let anyone who sout to harm them come and try!

Preparations for the feast were a great secret.

Wonderful smells began to tickle their nostrils

And then from page 373

When, later that evening, the hunting horm was sounded, and F and C rang a peal on the cowbells, the children of the Silver Lake rushed over to the house, running, slipping and stumbling over on the frozen snow, and stopped on the threshold, as dazzled and delighted as any other children the world over.

"Oh!"

The room was a-glitter with a thousand lights and the table that occupied the centre of the room groaned beneath a pile of treasures and knick-knacks. It was hard to say which was the best, the wonderful sight before them or the delicious smells of the friend black pudding and all the sweetmeats.

The three tiny tots of the Silver Lake stood on the threshold, their eyes shining like stars in their faces red with cold.

Sunday Salon: November Reading Resolutions

It's December! How has that happened so quickly? Where has the year gone? It's time to start thinking about best of lists, analysing the stats for the year and thinking about blogging goals for 2012, but first my reading wrap up for November!

November was another good reading month for me with a total of 25 books read. You might notice a heavy concentration of Kelly Hunter romances. I really went on a glom, and I don't think it is really over just yet. There are still some more of her books that I am planning to read at some point Not many books were reviewed although there are a couple written that will be posted this month. Here's what I read this month:


Coming Home by Mariah Stewart 4/5
Affinity by Sarah Waters 4/5
Hidden Summit Robyn Carr 4/5
Wish: A Novella by Kelly Hunter 4/5
The Next Always by Nora Roberts 3.5/5
Jamie's Great Britain by Jamie Oliver 4.5/5
You are my Only by Beth Kephart 4/5
Bedded for Diamonds by Kelly Hunter 4/5
The Maverick's Greek Island Mistress by Kelly Hunter 4/5
Untameable Rogue by Kelly Hunter 4/5
Her Singapore Fling by Kelly Hunter 4/5
The Man She Loves to Hate by Kelly Hunter 4/5
Notorious Pleasures by Elizabeth Hoyt 4/5
Lady Sophie's Christmas Wish by Grace Burrowes 4/5
Kommandant's Girl by Pam Jenoff 4/5
The Legacy by Katherine Webb 4/5
Soulless by Gail Carriger 3.5/5
Touch of Power by Maria V Snyder 3.5/5
The Personal History of Rachel DuPree by Ann Weisgarber 4.5
Busted in Bollywood by Nicola Marsh 4/5
Curse Not the King by Evelyn Anthony 4/5
India Black and the Widow of Windsor by Carol K Carr 4/5
To Sin with a Stranger by Kathryn Caskie 3.5/5
Where She Went by Gayle Forman 4.5/5
Camp Nine by Vivienne Schiffer 4.5/5

I know that I posted about my challenges for 2012 last week, but this week I also found out about the Australian Women Writers Challenge. Whilst it kind of overlaps the Aussie Author's Challenge, I also really want to do what I can to support Australian Women Writers so this was one that I had to join up for. Here are the details:

Challenge period: 1 January 2012 - 31 December 2012

Goal: Read and review books written by Australian women writers – hard copies, ebooks and audiobooks, new, borrowed or stumbled upon by book-crossing.

Genre challenges:
Purist: one genre only
Dabbler: more than one genre
Devoted eclectic: as many genres as you can find

Challenge levels:
Stella (read 3 and review at least 2 books)
Miles (read 6 and review at least 3*
Franklin-fantastic (read 10 and review at least 4 books)*
* The higher levels should include at least one substantial length review

I am going to be Devoted eclectic Franklin-fantastic!

There are lots of other details of other options on the challenge page so check it out if you might be interested.

Virtual Advent Tour: Christmas past

One of the fascinating things about reading historical fiction is seeing how differently things that we take for granted now were treated in the past. I found this passage interesting as it is set at the time of the Restoration to the English throne of Charles II, not long after the Commonwealth ended. During the Commonwealth, the celebrating of holy and feast days associated with the Catholic church was frowned upon, including Christmas.

It is not too late to join in the tour this year. You can still sign up at the sign up post.
This passage comes from page 243 of Anthony Capella's The Empress of Ice Cream.

I told Elias we would be spending the winter out at Hampton and his face fell.

"What is it, boy?"

He said hesitantly, "It is just that we will  miss Christmas."

"Elias!" his mother said, overhearing. "Christmas! What is this I hear?"

He hung his head in shame. "Some of the other children are saying that it will be a holiday."

Without asking my permission, she whisked him off into a corner. I thought she must be scolding him over his lack of enthusiasm for his work, until I realised that her objection was a different one. She was trying to speak quietly, but anger made her voice carry.

"... bad enought that you work for a papist. But I will not be celebrating papist festivals as well. Now be off with you, and no more talk of Christmas."

***

"You don't celebrate Christmas, I take it?" I said neutrally.

"We do not."

"May I ask the reason?'

"Under the Protector, it was seen that there was no need for it."

"Whereas the Protector's own birthday, no doubt, was a public holiday?"

She glared at me. "Show me where in the Gospels it says that December the twenty-fifth is Christ's birthday, and we will celebrate it. Until then the Sabbath is enough Lord's Day for us."

Weekend Cooking: Immoveable Feast: A Paris Christmas by John Baxter

A witty cultural and culinary education, Immoveable Feast is the charming, funny, and improbable tale of how a man who was raised on white bread—and didn't speak a word of French—unexpectedly ended up with the sacred duty of preparing the annual Christmas dinner for a venerable Parisian family.


Ernest Hemingway called Paris "a moveable feast"—a city ready to embrace you at any time in life. For Los Angeles–based film critic John Baxter, that moment came when he fell in love with a French woman and impulsively moved to Paris to marry her. As a test of his love, his skeptical in-laws charged him with cooking the next Christmas banquet—for eighteen people in their ancestral country home. Baxter's memoir of his yearlong quest takes readers along his misadventures and delicious triumphs as he visits the farthest corners of France in search of the country's best recipes and ingredients. Irresistible and fascinating, Immoveable Feast is a warmhearted tale of good food, romance, family, and the Christmas spirit, Parisian style.

One day I was listening to The Book Show on our ABC and they interviewed an Australian author who had spent many years living in Paris after shorter stints in the US and Britain. They were talking about his book The Most Beautiful Walk in the World: a Pedestrian in Paris and given my infatuation with all things Paris recently I knew I wanted to read it. Unfortunately, my library didn't have it but they did have this book! Whilst I still want to read that one this was a worthy substitute!

John Baxter grew up in country Australia and dined on the bland food that was staple of the past. Whilst now Australian cuisine is varied, multicultural and based on fresh ingredients, it wasn't always the case. Baxter compares the Australia of his past and share how he learned to cook, how he impressed dates by being able to cook after he left Australia and compares and contrasts both the different dining experiences of the various countries he has lived in around the world and the way that Christmas is celebrated in Australia and France.

The main focus of the book however is detailing his quest for the perfect Christmas menu. After being accepted by his now wife's French family he took on the cooking duties each Christmas often trying new dishes that wouldn't normally grace the French table. Later this month I will share a passage from the book about his first French Christmas.

He takes us with us as he searches for the perfect ingredients - oysters, cheese, a piglet with skin so that he could share the perfect crackling - one of the great pleasures in life that is virtually unknown in France where most pork is sold without the skin! And with this list of perfect ingredients he can create an unforgettable menu for the Christmas festivities.

This was such a fun read. It was warm and funny and made me salivate as I read it! I can't wait to read more from Baxter. There were whole sections that I could have quoted from for weeks of Weekend Cooking posts, and it gave me several other ideas as well!

If you fancy indulging in some French festivities this Christmas, then this is a perfect book to read!

Weekend Cooking is hosted by Beth Fish Reads and 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, fabulous quotations, photographs.

Emily's First Russian Christmas

Yesterday when I posted a quote from this book, I forgot to give any set up as to the setting of the quote. Emily is a young English who has just arrived in Russia to live with her aristocratic grandmother, just in time for the dramatic events of 1917.

This quote about Emily's first Russian Christmas comes from page 158-159.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Christmas dinner began at six that evening with the zakuski. The butler and the footman brought into the drawing-room a wheeled table on which were laid out salted cucumbers, stuffed mushrooms, green and black olives, marinaded tomatoes, stuffed eggs in their shells, two kinds of caviare – red and black – and open tartlets filled with creamy concoctions of smoked fish and spiced chicken. Flasks, of vodka sat in ice buckets, and as soon as the plates were filled, the glasses were charged and Natasha toasted the first toast – to Yenya and Yenchik, whose name-day it was.

Everyone drained their glasses in unison, and then tasted the zasuski while the servants went round refilling for the next toast. Emily has been in Russia almost six weeks now, and knew the procedure. She had found the vodka rather startling at first, but there was no doubt that it warmed up the atmosphere of any gathering very quickly, as toast after toast was drunk, and the delicious hors d’oeuvres were consumed.

It was seven o’clock before they moved into the dining-room, where the servants brought in the soup and the hot pirozhkis – small pastries filled variously with minced meat, onions and cabbage, and mushrooms – which went with it. The vodka was exchanged for wine now, but the toasts went on, and the laughter and conversation rose a notch. Emily’s whole body seemed to be filled with a warm astonishment: it was different as it could be from those stiff Christmas dinners at Bratton. She was seated between Adishka and Tolya, and the former kept her entertained with stories about Petersburg society, while she had never seen the latter so animated and unselfconscious.

After the soup there was kulebiaka, a noble pie made in millefeuille layers of crisp pastry filled with salmon, sturgeon, mushrooms, chopped eggs, and rice flavoured with onions and dill. Then, for the main course, there was the Christmas goose stuffed with cinnamon apples, and partridges cooked in sour cream. When it came to the dessert, the cook, Borya – a large Georgian with huge moustaches of which he was intensely proud – brought it up before him on an enormous silver platter: a traditional English plum pudding, flickering bravely with blue flames of ignited brandy and crowned with a sprig of holly.

Camp Nine by Vivienne Schiffer

On February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 authorizing the secretary of war to prescribe military zones “from which any or all persons may be excluded.” Eventually this order was applied to one-third of the land area in the United States, mostly in the West, clearing the way for the relocation of 120,000 people of Japanese descent.


This time of fear and prejudice (the U.S. government formally apologized for the relocations in 1982 after determining they were not a military necessity) and the Arkansas Delta are the setting for Camp Nine. The novel’s narrator, Chess Morton, lives in tiny Rook, Arkansas. Her days are quiet and secluded until the appearance of a relocation center built for what was in effect the imprisonment of thousands of Japanese Americans.


Chess’s life becomes intertwined with those of two young internees, and that of an American soldier mysteriously connected to her mother’s past. As Chess watches the struggles and triumphs of these strangers and sees her mother seek justice for these people who came briefly and involuntarily to call the Arkansas Delta their home, she discovers surprising and disturbing truths about her family’s painful past.

I always feel a little bit awkward saying it, but I really do enjoy reading books set against the background of war. I am not sure where this love came from but it was very early on as one of the few books I remember reading in school was Summer of My German Soldier by Betty Greene. In a way, I suppose it is not surprising that I think of that book as I write up my thoughts for this one, given that both are about prisoner of war camps located near small towns and the impact that has on two young girls. This subject of the camps is one that doesn't come up all that often in WWII fiction though. The only other book I have read in the last few years that touches on this setting was Jamie Ford's Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. Despite this commonality, the three books I have mentioned are all very different books.

Life for young Chess Morton is changed dramatically one summer when suddenly some land near her house is cleared, and a camp is built. Camp Nine has been built specifically to house Japanese internees most of whom have come from California. Families who may have lived in America for many years are routinely rounded up and sent to these camps for the duration of the war based only on their Japanese heritage. Whilst she hasn't had everything easy in life, particularly with the death of her father at a very young age, Chess has lived a pretty sheltered and comfortable life. She lives with her feisty mother who spends most of the time butting heads with her ultra conservative grandparents, especially over Chess's inheritance which her grandfather has control over.

The coming of the camp changes many things for Chess. Carrie, Chess's mother, volunteers to help out at the camp by teaching art to the school aged children. As a result, she befriends many of the families in the camp, including the Matsui family. When Chess starts to accompany her mother, she too is introduced to Henry and David Matsui, both slightly older than her and both very different in temperament. Henry is several years older than Chess. He is studious, polite and determined to be honourable at all cost, and then there is David who is rebellious, daring and a passionate musician for whom playing the blues on the guitar is like finding heaven.

For the Matsuis, life changes when they are asked two questions by the government officials. Their answers will change all of their lives in different ways - firstly, are they willing to fight for the US armed forces, and secondly will they forsake all loyalties to Japan. Answer no to either of these questions and your family could be torn apart but many of the prisoners could not in all honour say yes to both of those questions. For those young men who said yes to both they could find themselves on the next train out to training camps, and then on their way to the theatres of war, often under-appreciated for their service.

For a relatively short book there are numerous layers and nuances running through the narrative. The denseness of the delta is palpable, as is the tension in the small town of Rook between those who are for and against the presence of the camp near their town. In addition, there is a subtle examination of the relationship between Carrie and her former flame Tom who is now the commander of the camp.

Whilst the book is mostly about the Japanese camp experience, there is also discussion about the relationship between the well-off whites, the poor whites, the blacks and the Japanese.

Although I wouldn't have been able to articulate it at the time, there was another problem, one much larger than the vague promise of Ruby Jean's wrath. It was possible for the white people of Rook to interact with the black people, and for the white people of Rook to interact with the Japanese. In each case, it was acceptable only if initiated by a white person. But contact between the blacks and the Japanese? How could I explain to David that it simply wasn't done? I didn't even understand it myself.

Vivienne Schiffer

It is a much older Chess who looks back at her youth and tells the story of her experience of Camp Nine and her friendship with the Matsuis. This sense of distance provides her with a perspective that would have been missing as a twelve year old but even then she needs the added wisdom of a person who is now virtually a stranger to fill in the gaps, to tell her exactly what was happening in the lives of the people around her back then.

There were some lovely passages in the book. This one in particular captured my attention and I have read it several times since. It is a very interesting representation of the concept of white privilege.

"See? Lived your whole life in the Arkansas Delta, and you can't name me one blues man. And you know why? Because you're a cultured, white woman. But I'm not white, Chess. I always thought I was, growing up. But I didn't really know what white was until the United States government carved us out of the white race, set us on a plate, and served us up into a dark corner of Arkansas. That's when I learned what white really is. It's separate. It's sheltered. It's a race apart."

Reading this book made me wonder about the Australian treatment of German, Italian and Japanese nationals who had made Australia their home in the years leading up to World War II. I knew that there had been camps, but other than that.I didn't know much at all! It turns out that we had our own Camp Nine which was near a town called Loveday in the Riverland in South Australia. The location was chosen because it was hundreds of kilometres from the sea, it had good river and transport access. Our Camp Nine held both internees and prisoners of war and it seems they were keen to work and be useful in the same ways that many of the characters in this book were. The most famous camp in Australia was at a place called Cowra, and it most famous because there was a break out by the prisoners. These events were turned into a mini-series some years ago which certainly helped maintain the infamy of that particular camp.

Thanks to TLC Booktours for the opportunity to read this fascinating book! Too see what other bloggers thought of the book, check out the other stops on the tour listed below.

Rating 4.5/5

Camp Nine tour stops

Monday, October 31st: Broken Teepee
Tuesday, November 1st: Picky Girl
Wednesday, November 2nd: Literature and a Lens
Thursday, November 3rd: Wordsmithonia
Friday, November 4th: Melody & Words
Monday, November 7th: Booksie’s Blog
Tuesday, November 8th: Lit and Life
Wednesday, November 9th: Write Meg
Thursday, November 10th: Juggling Life
Monday, November 14th: BookNAround
Tuesday, November 15th: Savvy Verse and Wit
Wednesday, November 16th: Books Like Breathing
Thursday, November 17th: A Bookish Affair
Monday, November 21st: For the love of books
Tuesday, November 22nd: Buried in Print
Wednesday, November 23rd: The Lost Entwife
Monday, November 28th: In the Next Room
Tuesday, November 29th: Diary of an Eccentric
Thursday, December 1st: The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader

Gilded Walnuts (from Emily by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles)

In honour of this year's Virtual Advent tour (which kicked off today) I have been collecting quotes about Christmas all through the year. I am sharing them at the Virtual Advent site, but I am also going to post them here as well.

If you might be interested in joining in the tour, it's not too late. Head on over and sign up and join in the fun. We are only on the first day, but already I have teared up reading one of the posts, and I am now desperately wanting a Star Wars Advent calendar, and wishing it was cool enough here to need a Christmas quilt!


Gilding walnuts – page 156-157 Emily by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles

One evening, after Yenchik and Zansha were in bed, Mamka brought a basket of walnuts and a bowl of milk into the drawing room and put them down on the table.

‘These are the best, barina,” she said to Natasha. “I’ve sorted them out myself. All the shells are nice and clean and smooth.”

“Ah, good. Stay and help us, Mamka – you have the best touch. Yenya, Emilia, come and sit at the table.”

Yenya brought a lighted candle, a stick of sealing wax, and some green wool cut into lengths, and Natasha fetched from her bureau some little paper booklets about two inches square.

“What’s going on?” Emily asked, taking her place beside Tolya.

“We’re going to gild the nuts,” he answered, surprised. “Haven’t you ever done it before? I’ll show you, then.”

Each booklet contained twenty thin leaves of pure gold with cigarette paper between them, each leaf so delicate it made the cigarette paper look thick and coarse by comparison.

“To get it out you have to blow on it, like this. Look,” Tolya said. He blew gently, and the almost weightless leaf lifted free of the paper with a faint rustling sound. “Your hands have to be clean, and dry, or the gold comes off on your fingers.”

“Like the bloom on a butterfly’s wings,” Emily said, trying it for herself.

Each nut had to be dipped in the milk, then carefully wrapped in the gold leaf. When they were dry, the two ends of a strand of wool were placed on top of the nut and sealed down with a drop of molten wax to make a loop.

“They’re so beautiful,” Emily said. Gold paint would have been nothing to it, a dull meagre imitation. These nuts shone with all the lustre of pure gold, like little suns, like tiny church cupolas. “What are they for?”

“For hanging on the Christmas tree,” Tolya said, all amazement at her ignorance. You must have seen a Christmas tree before.”

And then from page 160

Before her was the first Christmas tree she had ever seen, stretching right up to the ceiling, ablaze with light, a beautiful, glorious thing against the darkness of the room. It was decorated with the gilded nuts she had helped to make, which shone with the soft brilliance of true gold; with small, polished bell-shaped Christmas apples; with little nets of sweets wrapped in shining foil; with crystal icicles and snowflakes, and silver bells. On the top was a fairy dressed in silver tinsel with a diamond crown: and everything seemed to shimmer in the light from the candles which trembled on the ends of the branches, making a cascade of light, layer upon layer of quivering flames, each surround with its own golden halo.