March Book Buys!

This month was a pretty dry month in the way of buying books; seeing I was staying in a place where there were no bookstores to know of.
Okay, there were, but the books on offer were pretty slim.  There was Pete's Convenience Store up the road where they had an exchange scheme going and so most of the books there were pre-loved, spaghetti westerns or romance novels; or a couple of years old and Oprah Book Club books.  Then there was St Vinnies, which was a 20 minute walk away and their books weren't in great shape.  So I didn't go there.  And at Eclectea, they didn't have a big range of books - just old things that I haven't seen since I was a kid.
So, I was stuck with the books I had taken with me to read.  This is something I didn't mind because it pushed me to focus on what I had instead of what I could have read.  I got through around 30 - 40 pages of 'The Wastelands' by Stephen King; which I'm proud of, because I've been kind of not reading that much.
Then I tried to get into 'The Invisible Man' by H.G. Wells; and failed.  It wasn't so much that I wasn't interested, it was because it didn't grab me immediately... this often happens with classics.  So, I'll have to post it off to the next reader on the list; as it's a bookray from Bookcrossing.

The only things I bought this month is book of short stories from 2010 and this months' Rolling Stone Magazine - only because they had an interview with David Bowie in it.  That's all.  Not much.  What did you get up to in the way of reading or purchases this month?  More than me? Or like me, nothing much at all?  Until my next post, happy reading.   

'Nosebleed' by Ged Maybury

Hamish Zupanek suffers from nosebleeds - lots of them.  But that's because his finger spends a good lot of time up one or both of his nostrils investigating to see if he's been abducted by aliens.

Hamish has it into his head he's been abducted by aliens and so he's collected a lot of information about things from outer space.  Whenever he's out at garage and yard sales, he seems to hone in on all kinds of things about them; which annoys his family to no end. But his best friend, Trev, is right there with him on the whole thing - selective chicken blindness and all!   
However, it isn't until Hamish 'meets' a friend on the net that things get really interesting.  There's codes to be broken, language barriers that weren't there before, but are there now... and all of this begins to scare Hamish.

Then, his internet friend wants to meet him - in person - and he has groundbreaking news for Hamish which will blow his mind.  Will he meet him?  Or is it all just a dream caused by a massive loss of blood from too much nose-picking?

I've been given this book to read now - a month before its release onto the market - and I love it!  It's funny, very Australian, and I know where the places are in it that Hamish go to.  It's a great little book to read in a day; or a few hours at least, so escape the world for a while.  Well worth the time to get into it.  Until my next post, happy reading!   

Best Australian Blogs 2013!

Vote now for My Reading List as this year's Australia's Best Blog for 2013!  I have put my blog down to see if I can make the cut for this wonderful honour to be chosen across Australia.

So, either go to the embedded link in the above paragraph or the link or go to the link at the top of the sidebar, click on the link there and complete the survey and let them know what you think of this blog; and many others.  You have until 5pm 30th, April 2013 to cast your votes for your favourite blogs - and there's a lot of blogs there too!

I thank you all for doing this very much.  And no matter who wins, we are all great bloggers out there, doing our best to entertain and inform our internet readers in some way.  Until my next post, happy reading! 

Book Launch of Ged Maybury's New Book!

Today, right now, tonight, I'm in the know, the inner circle the 'in' crowd of the publishing world.  Yes, I am.  I have been invited to a book launch of my great friend, Ged Maybury.  

And not only that!  I've been asked to make a speech and launch him and his book too!  How cool is that?  

Today, I was at his birthday lunch (his actual birthday was on Wednesday) and he gave me a copy of the book to read before the launch.  It's not a very thick book, but it's a funny one.  Right now, I'd like to finish it to see how it turns out - but it's a real hoot!  He's made me laugh in quite a few places and it's a typical Young Adult book written in the typical Aussie style.
The title of the book is 'Nosebleed'... yep not a very engaging title, but its title has a meaning behind it.  I began reading it tonight during Earth Hour and I got halfway through it.  I'm looking forward to finishing it before I turn out the light.  

But what I'm looking forward to is writing the rest of my speech for the Logan Arts Festival for next month.  It ought to be a great event! Until my next post, happy reading!   

Holiday Reading

I haven't been reading all that much this holiday; well, mainly just before turning out the light - but that's all.  I've read about 50 pages of 'The Wastelands' by Stephen King.  It's really picked up and I've found myself reading until around 1am; when I should be turning out the light at around 11pm. 
Then, there's 'Anna Karenina' by Leo Tolstoy which I can easily read about 30 pages of in a short amount of time; seeing I have this book on my iPod and set up in scroll mode so it's easy to get through a lot of pages quite easily.  

Otherwise, I've been trying to read 'The Invisible Man' by H.G. Wells - a bookray from Bookcrossing - and have found it difficult to get into.  I haven't given up, though, as it's just the beginning and the characters are only just being developed.  And seeing it's a brilliant classic by a just as brilliant writer, I'm going to persevere and see how far I can get through it before giving up.

Well, that's my holiday reading.  What do you read during your holidays?  Or do you give reading a break?  Anyway, until my next post, happy reading! 

I Miss My Books

Wow... that sounds nutty, but I really miss my book collection.  I've only been away from it for a little over a week and I'm homesick for my room of books.  Have you ever had this problem of wanting to be close to your own collection before?  If so, what did you do about it?
I had the problem really bad the other night and found I couldn't sleep until around 1am when I wrote it down in my journal about it, admitting my problems to myself.  However, I don't like being away from home too long where all my belongings are.

Now, don't get me wrong, my brother has a great little collection of books in his living room I see and walk past every day; but they aren't anything compared to my 1,000+ collection at my place; which I find very comforting even though they take up my spare room.  And the books of my brother's collection have covered many different genres from cooking to motorcycle maintenance to one I spotted this evening titled 'The Content Chook' about how to keep happy chickens (as they have 6 chickens in their back yard who are very happily supplying them up to 3 eggs a day). 

I am reading 'The Wastelands' by Stephen King - which is the 3rd book of the Dark Tower Series - and loving it.  I've gotten my nose into 'The Invisible Man' by H.G. Wells as well as a part of a bookray from Bookcrossing as well.  And then, there's 'Anna Karenina' by Leo Tolstoy that I'm over 200 pages into; which I've put aside to catch up on my other reading for now.  I think I'll jump back into it again next week, just to get some pages read; as it's so well-written.

I have enjoyed being here at my brother's house as it's a change of environment, pace and area, but I'm looking forward to getting home, picking up my television from the repair people at Eagle Farm (as it's in for repairs) and being back amongst my things soon.  Until my next post, happy reading.

'Nelson Mandela: The Authorised Book of Quotations' by Himself

I've had a lot of time to kick back and read here at my brother's house; and one of the books I brought with me to read is this one.  Now with books like this, I don't read them from front to back; as there's no real storyline or plot.  These books are just quotes of a famed person at different times in their lives.  However, normally, these books are done up by a second party - a biographer or family member - who's been there right from the beginning.  With this wonderful little book, Nelson Mandela has pulled together his quotes over his whole lifetime himself.  And what a book it is!

I have admired Nelson Mandela since I was in high school and the whole world was fighting Apartheid in South Africa; and this great man was in prison for something he said and did.  Once he was let out, and I found out exactly who he was I followed his life.  I have tracked down a couple of his books down at bookstores (and have yet to read them; but at least I have them on hand when I want to get into them).  But when I found this one, I knew I just had to have it as it was purely about him, by him; and that's something wonderful as it speaks volumes about how much he has influenced people and the globe and history as we know it when we see what a single, important person has said over their whole lifetime that has changed the way the world works.  Until my next post, happy reading. 

Vegetarian Bible 2

As a lot of you know, I love to cook; and I mean really cook!  I don't mean getting out packet mixes and just adding an egg and milk, I mean getting right into it and making a mess in the kitchen.  And I've got on this blog a label which covers cookbooks for all you lovers of cooking out there; and this review is about a wonderful cookbook I just happen to stumble upon while I was on my way to the doctors a few weeks ago.
Vegetarian Bible 2 is obvious the second book of vegetarian cooking; and it's a wonderful little book of recipes for the hard-core vegetarian who loves to cook with just about anything in their pantry and fridge.
The recipe I tried out was the Sweet Potato and Walnut Cannelloni with Spinach and Goat's Cheese.  However, I didn't have Sweet Potato and so I used Pumpkin instead and there was no spinach and so I grabbed some basil instead and cooked that to death (as it loses it flavour and keeps the green in it).  Then, I had no goat's cheese; so I skipped that part and made the filling just the way it was.  And the whole recipe itself was so easy to follow and even easier to put together... I couldn't believe I had made such a scrummy meal for my friends who were coming for dinner last night!  And there were no leftovers either!

I do recommend this book to anyone who loves to cook vegetarian meals - or to cook anything no matter what your tastes.  As for me?  I'm going to look for the first Vegetarian Bible and see what's in store with that one.  If the meals are anything like the ones in this book, I'm in for a real treat!  Until my next post, happy reading!

Book Delights in Brighton

I do enjoy staying in an area where I don't normally live.  It gives me a chance to see what kinds of places are around for me to look into bookwise.

Today, I took a walk up the road to Pete's Corner Store.  It's a little convenience store which has a bit of everything in it.  It's part newsagents, part IGA, part second-hand bookstore... and it's small and very quaint; and that's its main attraction.  They were selling books there for well under $10; and they were exchangeable too.  So, you could buy a book for $2.00 and return it for another for half the price.  Not a bad deal; and something I haven't seen in a long time... a book exchange that is.
So, I bought a book and found a Rolling Stone Magazine which had an interview with David Bowie and Nick Cave and found myself looking for a bus to go to Sandgate Town Centre.  

On the way there, I saw a Life Line store.  This is definitely a place I'll be sussing out next week.  I'll tell you all what kind of books I've found there.  Until my next post, happy reading!

Australian Journalist, Peter Harvey Passes Away

Legendary Australian journalist, Peter Harvey, passed away yesterday aged 68, from Cancer.  He had been working as a television journalist for the last 35 years.  During the last four decades, he's covered most of the world's most important and breaking news; from Vietnam through to when the Gulf War first broke out.  He has also been there through quite a few Australian leaders - such as Malcolm Fraser, Bob Hawke, Paul Keating and John Howard.  

He has traveled around the globe covering all kinds of stories on every event possible, bringing to us solid facts and being there when new facts were on hand.  

Personally, I've grown up with this reporter/jounalist on my television screen on 60 Minutes every Sunday night.  He's been a part of my life for a very long time; and I don't remember a time when he hasn't been there.  And now, he's passed away and gone, it's a sad time for writers, journalists and anyone in the writing arena.  May Peter Harvey Rest In Peace.

I have put in a couple of links for further reading below. I hope you all find the time to read them.

Peter Harvey Dies After Battle With Cancer 

Peter Harvey Passes Away   

Peter Harvey Has Died Aged 68 

The Big Wet!

I love wet weather - as anyone does when they live in a desert country like Australia.  But there's wet and there's ridiculously stupidly wet... like the last few years.  This has got to be the wettest February we've had in a very long time; and to be truthful, I'm darned bored with how much rain we've had.

So, I've been reading anything that I can get my hands on.  From 'Anna Karenina' by Leo Tolstoy to 'Good Reading Magazine' from this months' issue to last year's issues (of articles I skipped over for another time), I have been reading plenty.  I got my nose into 'The Invisible Man' by H.G Wells recently and I was reading 'The Wastelands' by Stephen King as well as 'The God Delusion' by Richard Dawkins.  I'm making good headway through all these books simply because there's nothing much to do when it's wet.  Besides, my television's playing up terribly too.  The tuner in it has a fault and until next week, I can't get anything done on it... how dreadful is that?  

Now, I've done all my laundry, put out as much rubbish as I can, and am hoping to get my clothes put away soon if they don't go all damp and weird on me.  Otherwise, here's hoping the weather clears up here in Brisbane soon.  I hate it when there's not much to do, and reading even becomes boring.  So, what else do you get up to - besides reading, if you become tired of that - in this kind of weather?  Or don't you tire of reading?  Until my next post, happy reading!