Tinkers

Tinkers by Paul Harding is the story of two "tinkers" - George, the son, who "tinkers" with clocks. And his father Howard, who is an itinerant tinker, leaving each morning from home with his horse and wagon, and returning each night from his futile attempts to make a living. 

The story is well-told, moving back and forth between George, who is dying in a hospital bed in his living room, and Howard, an epileptic, who tries to keep his infirmity from his children (although I have to admit I did get a bit confused at times as to which character was being discussed, but this was due to my need to rush through the book without slowing down to allow the book to unfold as it should).

The book is full of wonderful language (each word is critical to create a scene or feeling), although at times I found myself skimming through the description and musings and descriptions of epileptic seizures to get to "what happens next." Despite the sometimes tedious language and descriptions of types of clocks, I found myself moved by the two stories. 


This book was full of smells, nature, beauty and death. Three generations of men experiencing confusion and amusement are fused together with words of nature, grief and soul. There are probably depths I couldn't actually grasp or understand, as it was hard for my brain to consistently concentrate on the story and descriptive narrative. 


Despite the hard-going nature of the read I can still appreciate that the book is wonderful. I wouldn't normally choose this sort of writing as I don't have the patience for it. But this is a book to be read slowly, take the time to absorb the poetry and use of the words, savour the images created and allow the book to take you on a journey.


Winner of the Pulitzer Prize 2010, this is not an easy read (thinking of death is never easy), but is a beautiful book that felt more like a long, very descriptive and unusual poem. 

Finally!

Most of you have probably already read this book, but I have to admit that this book took me two attempts to complete. The first time I started to read it, I didn't give the first couple of chapters enough of my attention and by the third, I had no idea who was who, why there were so many 'Thomas's and generally had lost the plot (literally).

The book was put down and forgotten.

But then, I kept hearing from all my well read friends how much they had LOVED the book and they all seemed to have found it fascinating and brilliant and it also won the Man Booker prize 2009! I was obviously missing something....

The book was relaunched in the last couple of weeks and, what with Christmas shopping, pretending to work and kids finishing school, I have only just finished it!

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel is a truly epic story.

England, the 1520s. Henry VIII is on the throne, but has no heir. Cardinal Wolsey is his chief advisor, charged with securing the divorce the pope refuses to grant. Into this atmosphere of distrust and need comes Thomas Cromwell, first as Wolsey's clerk, and later his successor. Cromwell is a wholly original man: the son of a brutal blacksmith, a political genius, a briber, a charmer, a bully, a man with a delicate and deadly expertise in manipulating people and events. Ruthless in pursuit of his own interests, he is as ambitious in his wider politics as he is for himself. His reforming agenda is carried out in the grip of a self-interested parliament and a king who fluctuates between romantic passions and murderous rages.


I'm really glad I persevered with the book and did end up really enjoying it. It reminds me a lot of 'The Other Boleyn Girl' by Phillipa Gregory - which I found a much lighter read but still historically fascinating.

Apparently, now I need to watch 'The Tudors' and my history lesson will be almost complete.

Christmas list

Its beginning to feel a lot like Christmas.

I love giving or getting books for Christmas. It is so hard to know what to buy for kids to read. It always seemed easier when they were into picture books - I just looked for ones with a story I would enjoy reading at least twenty times with beautiful pictures to keep them entertained. Now it seems to be a lot harder - and there seems to be a definite gap in the book market for boys age 10 and up!!

I thought I would start the ball rolling though and tell you about the books that my boys (aged 8 and 10) have read during the year and would recommend. It's not a long list, but I'm hoping others out there have many more brilliant ideas and are happy to share...

All books listed (and photos) can be found at http://www.bookdepository.co.uk. (I should be getting a commission!)

The 10 year old is a mad reader but this is just a selection of his favourites:

• Eragon, Brisinger and Eldest by Christopher Paolini.

• Once, Then and Now by Morris Gleitzman.

Reviewed in Good Chapters here

• The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. (Ok I did give him this to read and he did enjoy it, but not perhaps as much as his mother!)

• The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. (Ok I also gave him this to read and he did enjoy it, but not perhaps as much as his mother!)

• The Legends of the Guardian: The owls of Gahoole series by Kathryn Lasky. We have all enjoyed this series and there are 10 books in the series so it has lasted a long time.

• The Indispensable Calvin and Hobbes collection by Bill Watterson.

• The Guiness Book of Records - hours of fascinating reading for all.

The 8 year old has been mainly listening to stories read by his Dad (the ones that the 10 year old has already read but loved).

In addition to these, he has enjoyed:

• The 'How to train your dragon' series by Cressida Cowell

• The 'Boy vs Beast series by Mac Park

Aren't boy books delightful?

Sarah's Key

Another book that I can highly recommend. I loved this book (right up until the end, but I'll get to that) - it was a great page turner and an easy read on a topic that still haunts and fascinates me - the holocaust.

Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay is the story about two women Sarah and Julia separated by sixty years. Sarah's story is based in Paris 1942 during the war - her story is compelling, horrifying, fascinating and haunting (I felt drained through each of her chapters, but couldn't stop reading). Her story is interwoven with Julia's story also based in Paris but 60 years later. Julia's story is much lighter and easier to read but I was disappointed in the ending of her story and its predictability and unlikeliness (I won't spoil the book for you).

"Paris, July 1942. Sarah, a ten-year old girl, is taken with her parents by the French police as they go door to door arresting Jewish families in the middle of the night. Desperate to protect her younger brother, Sarah locks him in a bedroom cupboard - their secret hiding place - and promises to come back for him as soon as they are released.


Sixty years later, Sarah's story intertwines with that of Julia Jarmond, a journalist investigating the round-up. Sarah's Key is an emotionally gripping story of two families, forever linked to, and haunted by, one of the darkest days in France's past."


Although it was hard to read (bit reminiscent of 'Boy with the striped pyjamas' type of angst) it was a fascinating story of an event I knew nothing about - the great Velodrome d'Hiver round-up that took place on 16 July 1942, in the heart of Paris. The story highlighted the evilness of the human race along with extraordinary braveness, kindness and compassion. It still terrifies me that something this awful could have occurred only 70 years ago - and the people were capable of inflicting such misery on people just like themselves and more frighteningly, on children.


Julia's story was welcome relief between the chapters of Sarah's story  - a bit of a detective, drama and love story - but they didn't grip me in the same way and I felt really let down by the end of her story - I'm not sure what I expected but it was a bit too predictable and saccharine after the emotional roller-coaster of the rest of the book.


My better half tells me (and I've confirmed through the trusty internet) that they have already made a movie of this book and Kristin Scott Thomas plays Julia and Melusine Mayance plays Sarah. All the reviews I have read say the movie has stayed quite true to the book - which makes me wonder whether I could watch Sarah's story without dissolving into a mess of tears.

I do recommend you read this book as I thought it was brilliant and fascinating and its a story that we should not forget. "Sakhor, Al Tichkah. Remember. Never forget. In Hebrew."

The Sisters Antipodes

An Australian book, written by Jane Alison, The Sisters Antipodes recounts Jane's story of her childhood. When she was young and living in Canberra, her family met another that seemed like its mirror: a father in the Foreign Service, a beautiful mother, and two little girls, the younger two - one of them Jane - sharing a birthday. With so much in common, the two families became almost instantly inseparable. Within months, affairs had ignited between the adults, and before long the pairs had exchanged partners, divorced, remarried, and moved on.


I found many of the themes in the book really resonated with me - the difficulties Jane encountered moving schools multiple times and trying to develop a self (and self esteem) through bad choices in her teenage years. I felt that reading the book made me a bit too introspective and I felt on occasion that I was hosting my own 'pity party'. My growing up was nothing compared to this Jane's, but it brought back many memories that serve no purpose in dwelling on!


I think the story itself is fascinating, especially how all the individuals coped so differently. However, I kept waiting for something to happen. Once the split had occurred, it seemed to dwell on this and the mirrored lives for much of the novel. I realise that is what the book was meant to be about, but I kept expecting more.


Overall I found the book interesting but a bit depressing and non-eventful. Once again I may be tainting the book with my own childhood experiences and views, so would, as always, be interested to hear your views.

A little distraction

Whilst I have been spending this year in self reflection (or self indulgence?) I have also been nurturing a little creative idea I've had for a while.

Those who know me, know that creativity is not my forte - I am an accountant after all - but the idea would not leave me and I have now (as in, tonight) set up an etsy shop selling my idea!

Sadly, but not surprisingly, I used to collect postage stamps as a child. I have quite a collection. Now I'm getting on in years, so has my stamp collection to the point that many of them are deemed vintage. They are beautiful and unique (due to the postmarks) and I thought that maybe others would think so too.

We will see.

Have a look at the link - and then get prepared to be lost in the 'black hole' of etsy - you never know you may find Christmas present inspiration there while you are at it!

There are more to come so please look again soon.

A Gate at the Stairs

I've had a bad week. We were broken into and robbed again. This time during the night while we slept. Its an awful disturbing and frightening feeling - and also has made me feel a bit down and angry. Fortunately no-one was hurt and nothing of significant value was taken but it has left a bad taste in my mouth (and resulted in very light sleep!).

The events of the week coincided with me starting A Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore. I often wonder about how much your mood or current situation impacts on your experience of a book (or movie or event) - do you think this too?

I found the book odd, maudlin, depressing and unsatisfying whilst admittedly beautifully written - the book was however, shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction 2010 and also voted by the New York Times Book Review as Book of the Year - so what would I know!

With America quietly gearing up for war in the Middle East, twenty-year-old Tassie Keltjin, a 'half-Jewish' farmer's daughter from the plains of the Midwest, has come to university - escaping her provincial home to encounter the complex world of culture and politics. When she takes a job as a part-time nanny to a couple who seem at once mysterious and glamorous, Tassie is drawn into the life of their newly-adopted child and increasingly complicated household. As her past becomes increasingly alien to her - her parents seem older when she visits; her disillusioned brother ever more fixed on joining the military - Tassie finds herself becoming a stranger to herself. As the year unfolds, love leads her to new and formative experiences - but it is then that the past and the future burst forth in dramatic and shocking ways.


The story is narrated by twenty year old Tassie which I found difficult to believe. The language and thoughts used by Tassie just seem to me far too mature, intelligent and philosophical to make me really feel like she was truly a twenty year old and I found this an enormous distraction to me while trying to follow her story. Perhaps, this is once again a reflection of my shallowness, lack of intelligence and education at the age of twenty - I'm pretty sure I was just at university, drinking at the pub and hanging out with friends! Perhaps I am just being cynical and there really are twenty year olds that think and speak like this, I just don't know any.....


I found the story a bit weird and as I said before, a bit unsatisfying and I am struggling to think of an audience to recommend this to. Would love to hear anybody else's thoughts on this book if they have read it - particularly if you loved it and I have completely missed the point. Until then, save your money and I will continue to find another un-put-downable read.

A Reliable Wife

My new book arrived on Tuesday. It is now Thursday. What the hell happened to Wednesday? It went something like this...I woke bleary eyed from going to bed too late (started the book), got nothing done all day (reading the book), stayed up way past my bedtime (engrossed in the book) and now am writing about the book instead of working!

Wow - what a great story - it's passionate, gripping, sensual, exciting and beautiful. I couldn't stop reading it and when I put it down, I couldn't stop thinking about the characters. What a great way to lose a day of your life....

A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick is the story of two people Catherine Land and Ralph Truitt and how their pasts have influenced the decisions they are currently making that will profoundly affect them both in ways neither of them have planned.

'He placed a notice in a Chicago paper, an advertisement for a 'reliable wife'. She responded, saying that she was 'a simple, honest woman.' She was, of course, anything but honest, and the only simple thing about her was her single-minded  determination to marry this man and then kill him, slowly and carefully, leaving herself a wealthy widow. What Catherine Land did not realise was that the enigmatic and lonely Ralph Truitt had a plan of his own.'


The story is brilliant - it has intrigue, it has sex (yes, sex!), it has twists, it has sadness, brutality and death and it also has a gripping story line that I was instantly addicted to. I can't tell you too much about the story for fear of ruining its brilliance, but I would describe it as a mixture of a mystery and romance.


I like what the author has said about his four main characters - 'I think the only thing that matters in life is goodness. It is all we have to leave behind us when we go, all we will be remembered for. It is our soul's wallet. These characters are not good people.'


Read it.


Loved it.

Island Beneath the Sea

Isabel Allende has been a prolific writer and I have only read a handful of her books - 'The House of the Spirits', 'Of Love and Shadows', 'The Infinite Plan' and 'Paula' (I think that's all). Each of her book that I've read, I've really enjoyed as they take you on a journey to another country and another time and I always emerge from the book believing I've learnt something about each.

Island Beneath the Sea is another epic novel that spans 1770 through to 1810 in Saint-Domingue, (what is now known as Haiti), Cuba and New Orleans following the life of Zarite - known as Tete.

From the sugar plantations of Saint-Domingue to the lavish parlors of New Orleans at the turn of the 19th century, Isabel Allende's latest novel tells the story of a mulatta woman, a slave and concubine, determined to take control of her own destiny in a society where that would seem impossible. Born a slave on the island of Saint-Domingue, Zarite - known as Tete - is the daughter of an African mother she never knew and one of the white sailors who brought her into bondage. Though her childhood is one of brutality and fear, Tete finds solace in the traditional rhythms of African drums and the voodoo loas she discovers through her fellow slaves. 


When twenty-year-old Toulouse Valmorain arrives on the island in 1770, it's with powdered wigs in his trunks and dreams of financial success in his mind. But running his father's plantation, Saint Lazare, is neither glamorous nor easy. Against the merciless backdrop of sugar cane fields, the lives of Tete and Valmorain grow ever more intertwined. When the bloody revolution of Toussaint Louverture arrives at the gates of Saint Lazare, they flee the island that will become Haiti for the decadence and opportunity of New Orleans. There, Tete finally forges a new life - but her connection to Valmorain is deeper than anyone knows and not so easily severed. 


Spanning four decades, Island Beneath the Sea is the moving story of one woman's determination to find love amid loss, to offer humanity though her own has been so battered, and to forge her own identity in the cruellest of circumstances.


As described above, the novel is an epic and a long story but well worth the effort. I found it fascinating (and horrifying) to read about the conditions of slaves in that time - and the abuse they suffered under various different occupying forces. I know the story isn't true, although I'm sure there is a lot of truth in the historical aspect, but I  was always terrified for the children in the story and intrigued at the lengths parents will go to and the bravery required, to improve the lives of their children. One example of this, was when slaves got pregnant they attempted to forcibly abort the babies so that they wouldn't have to grow up in slavery - ok, that's a very extreme example and doesn't really improve the child's life, but it stuck in my mind.


Fascinating story, a bit long in places, but as I said before, well worth the effort.

The Glass Castle

Another winner! This is a difficult review to write only because I would love everyone to read it and I don't want to give too much of the story away here.

I love talking about this book with my friends that have already read it as it inspires us, shocks us and appalls us all. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls is an amazing true story that beggars belief.

'This is a startling memoir of a successful journalist's journey from the deserted and dusty mining towns of the American Southwest, to an antique filled apartment on Park Avenue. Jeanette Walls narrates her nomadic and adventurous childhood with her dreaming, 'brilliant' but alcoholic parents. At the age of seventeen she escapes on a Greyhound bus to New York with her older sister; her younger siblings follow later. After pursuing the education and civilisation her parents sought to escape, Jeanette eventually succeeds in her quest for the 'mundane, middle class existence' she had always craved. In her apartment, overlooked by 'a portrait of someone else's ancestor' she recounts poignant remembered images of star watching with her father, juxtaposed with recollections of irregular meals, accidents and police-car chases and reveals her complex feelings of shame, guilt, pity and pride toward her parents.'


This book is not only an amazing story about how children survive adversity, poverty and neglect, it also made me think about issues I often consider with my own parenting style (or even the way our parents raised us). Do we 'helicopter parent' too much, do we give our children too much so they no longer need to strive to achieve more, do we simply have too much stuff?


I did find the beginning of the book a bit difficult as she rapidly went through some childhood memories without giving the reader a very clear picture of the family characters and a sense of continuity. I would have liked to know more about each of the family members and why they were that way, but as it is a true story and she is writing it from her own perspective, I guess its good that she isn't second guessing what goes on in everybody else's head.


This is a great book for book club discussions and as I've already recommended this book to several people, I won't go into any further detail. I strongly recommend you get a copy of this book and read it soon.

The Legacy

I've been putting off writing this post about one of the books I've just finished reading as I just didn't really love it and probably wouldn't recommend you rush out and get it. So, it seems kind of pointless to be writing a review on a book that I didn't enjoy but there may be many of you that disagree with me and I'd be interested to hear your perspectives.

The Legacy by Katherine Webb is the story of two sisters, Erica and Beth returning to their now deceased grandmother's home where they used to spend their summer holidays as children. As Erica searches through her late grandmother's belongings, a secret emerges, reaching all the way back to a beautiful heiress in turn-of-the-century Oklahoma. As past and present converge, Erica and Beth must come to terms with two terrible acts of betrayal - and the heartbreaking legacy left behind.

The book was an easy read but I just felt that the present and past stories didn't connect up as well as I'd hoped and the characters were all a bit one dimensional and unsympathetic. I don't like to criticize a book as I certainly could not do any better, but as I said before -  I probably wouldn't rush out to get it but at the same time, it certainly wouldn't tax you too much to read it either.

The next book I've read and will post about soon was brilliant!!! I haven't stopped thinking about it and discussing it with others who've read it - so you'll have to come back soon to see what it was....

The Children

Staying with family during the holidays can often bring back childhood tensions, memories and bonds. I do not know of any family that is without it's issues - resolved or usually, unresolved and simmering. The dynamics and personalities within each family is so different and unique, but all are equally fascinating to me.

Whilst staying for a week with my parents (plus my two boys) I read, 'The Children' by Charlotte Wood. I haven't read any of her books before and really enjoyed the easy style and gentle moving pace of this book.

'You bring your children up to escape sorrow. You spend your best years trying to stop them witnessing it on television, in you, in your neighbours' faces. Then you realize, slowly, that there is no escape, that they must steer their own way through life's cruelties. In The Children, Charlotte Wood one of Australian fiction's rising stars, delivers a short, sharp shock of a novel that takes us into the heart of a family as normal, and as broken, as any other. When their father is critically injured, foreign correspondent Mandy and her siblings return home, bringing with them the remnants and patterns of childhood. Mandy has lived away from the country for many years. Her head is filled with images of terror and war, and her homecoming to the quiet country town - not to mention her family and marriage - only heightens her disconnection from ordinary life. Cathy, her younger sister, has stayed in regular contact with her parents, trying also to keep tabs on their brother Stephen who, for reasons nobody understands, has held himself apart from the family for years. In the intensive care unit the children sit, trapped between their bewildered mother and one another.'

I really enjoyed this book and found it an easy and quick read- although it was slightly depressing and real - but the events and the characters appealed and kept me turning the pages. I can't explain too much about the book without giving too much away but I do recommend you read it.

Vegetable garden update

In case anyone was wondering......

The vegetable garden has been a fantastic success.

I have done several mystery box deliveries to various people for them to cook up as I had WAY too much produce.

I provided my friend Kate with many 'Asian greens' because I had absolutely NO idea what they actually were and how to cook them.

I no longer think a white cabbage moth looks pretty flying over my garden.

My children love apple and rhubarb crumble. OK actually they only like the apple and the crumble but I'm working on it. They do like the beetroot - only because they are still trying to make their wee turn pink. I have one child liking broccoli - that's got to be good doesn't it? And both kids liking cauliflower - plain, no cheese sauce thanks.

I have also been nominated as the best parsley grower in Adelaide.!!

My lovely friend Heidi is kindly planting my new summer veggies and I'm determined that the children WILL enjoy tomatoes by March next year - stay tuned...

Bird by Bird

Have you got a story in you that's just dying to get out? Have you ever wondered whether you could write a book and be the next JK Rowling? Maybe its just a short story, an article or even a poem.

If your inner writer is trying to be heard, you should definitely read this funny, clever, humbling and inspiring book Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott.

I'm not sure whether this book has inspired me (and my little story wanting to come out) or provided me with a very real wake-up call. Every now and then I think writing a book wouldn't be that hard and then I read something like Bird by Bird and realise I haven't got a clue and the most beautiful books are extremely cleverly composed by very talented writers - and I am not one of them.

Anyway the journey continues and I highly recommend reading this book to anyone interested in the art of book writing - whether you dream of writing your own or just appreciate the skill required and are interested in finding out more about how it is done.

But I want it...

I'm obsessed with this beautiful linen duvet cover and valance from Rough Linen! Can't work out how to buy it from Australia, but I really want it.

Yes it's all frighteningly expensive but I can't stop looking at it and keep finding it referenced in every blog / website I look at eg: sfgirlbybay blog site and design sponge blog. Help - anybody know how I can source it or do you have any suggestions for other linen doona / duvet covers that are available here?

Bookshelf choices

I thought I'd write a quick entry on some of the books that have stayed on my bookshelf over the years and are usually on my list of recommendations for a good read.

Staircase bookshelf - isn't it a fantastic idea!

Over the last couple of years I've been requested to give recommendations to friends who have not been well, are leaving children for long periods, wanted a good holiday read or just wanted to read something a bit different.

There are many books I've read and loved over the years but:
(a): I've forgotten their titles and / or their authors, or
(b): I've forgotten I've read them, or
(c): My list would be too long if I listed them all.

I read most of these over the last few years, so I haven't retrospectively reviewed them merely listed them - I'm happy to tell you more about them if you want more info.

So here is a very random and incomplete selection of what is still in my bookshelf (hence making it easy for me to remember their titles, etc!) and I would recommend as good reading (in no particular order):

1) Q&A by Vikas Swarup (plus Six Suspects by the same author)

2) The Map of Love by Ahdaf Soueif (have realised I did review this book earlier in this blog!)

3) Family Matters by Rohinton Mistry (plus A Fine Balance by the same author)

4) The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

5) The Famished Road by Ben Okri

6) Bel Canto by Ann Patchett (plus Run by the same author)

7) The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo trilogy by Stieg Larsson

8) Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

9) Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood (plus The Blind Assassin and also The Handmaid's Tale)

10) March by Geraldine Brooks (plus People of the Book by the same author)

All images courtesy of the book depository

What are you reading at the moment? Are you enjoying it or finding it a struggle? Would love to hear some recommendations....

Little Bee

Brilliant. Compelling. Different. Memorable. Read it....

Little Bee by Chris Cleave is an amazing book that I could not put down for the last few days and I don't think the story will leave me for a lot longer.

Little Bee, a young Nigerian refugee, has just been released from the British immigration detention center where she has been held under horrific conditions for the past two years, after narrowly escaping a traumatic fate in her homeland Nigeria. Alone in a foreign country, without a family member, friend or pound to call her own, she seeks out the only English person she knows. Sarah is a posh young mother and magazine editor with whom Little Bee shares a dark and tumultuous past.

The book is written with unpredictable moments of humour and horror - you just want to keep turning the page to see whether the next event will the former or the latter. The characters were great - although I did struggle with the maturity Little Bee displayed for a 16 year old - I suppose though, after what she had endured in her youth, her level of life experiences is more than any of us could comprehend. I really can't say too much about the book without spoiling the unfolding story but I highly recommend this book.

Once again I seem to have selected a book that makes you think about your contribution to the world - sorry to get deep again, but I really like what the author says about human rights at the end of the book:

(I know this quote is long but I couldn't shorten it without losing its impact)

' Evil is not going to be vanquished. Our job is to resist it, and to plant the seeds of further resistance so that goodness never entirely vanishes from the universe. There are degrees of resistance. It starts when you give a dollar to a homeless person and it escalates to the point where people give their lives, as Gandhi did or Martin Luther King, Jr. One person can make a difference by travelling as far along that continuum as they feel able.'

Three cups of tea

OK back to the real blog topic. It's been a while between book reviews as I've found this last book slow to get through. Don't let that put you off though! It was an incredible story.

If you've ever wondered whether one person truly can make a difference in the world - this book answers that question brilliantly. If you've ever wondered whether you should embark on any philanthropic ventures in your life - this book is for you. Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin

"In 1993, after a terrifying and disastrous attempt to climb K2, a mountaineer called Greg Mortenson drifted, cold and dehydrated, into an impoverished Pakistan village in the Karakoram Mountains. Moved by the inhabitants' kindness, he promised to return and build a school...Over the next decade Mortenson built not just on but fifty-five schools in remote villages across the forbidding and breathtaking landscape of Pakistan and Afghanistan, just as the Taliban rose to power."

The basic concept of what Greg Mortenson is doing to bring peace is so simple but beautiful. He believes that children (no matter where they are from), if given the opportunity for an education, will grow up with options beyond a predestined future of violence or crime. I loved this excerpt from the book as I think it summed up his philosophy perfectly:

"You have to attack the source of your enemy's strength. In America's case, that's not Osama or Saddam or anyone else. The enemy is ignorance. The only way to defeat it is to build relationships with these people, to draw them into the modern world with education and business. Otherwise the fight will go on forever."

The book was slow going for me as I found it a bit disjointed and due to the foreignness of the Pakistan and Afghanistan names of people and places. However this just demonstrates my (embarrassingly) complete lack of any knowledge of these countries. My knowledge of what happens in these countries and the issues that the predominantly innocent people face, is limited to what I learnt as a result of 9/11 and the recent floods in Pakistan.

I'm glad I read this inspiring book and I hope there are more people like Greg Mortenson in the world.  I wish I had just a little of Greg's guts and determination - the limit of my philanthropic gestures are to donate to World Vision, Cancer Council, Medicine sans Frontieres and other charities from the comfort of my home!

Very off the blog topic

I am currently researching places to stay in South Africa for our potential holiday there next year. Travelling with an architect and two young boys presents a number of challenges in finding perfect accommodation to suit everybody's needs and within a price range we can recover from! In doing so I have been scouring the internet (with all the information there it can be extremely overwhelming!) and found this amazing house featured in Living etc. The old farmhouse is in the Klein Karoo which is near Cape Town.

How about the light above the bed - its made of ostrich eggs and the wooden bed head is shaped in the same design like the traditional cape dutch homestead.

I love the mixture of prints and mirror in the bathroom.

Unfortunately I have discovered that it is not actually available to rent / stay in but isn't it beautiful anyway? 

The search continues...

Thought for the day

Just a little reminder to make the most of each day and be the best person you can be:

http://chandeliers.tumblr.com/

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine as children do. It's not just in some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own lights shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others. 

Nelson Mandela

The Help

The Help by Kathryn Stockett was a fantastic read - it should be compulsory reading for all people living in countries where they still pay for hired help to help them in bringing up their children and keeping their houses clean.


'Enter a vanished and unjust world: Jackson, Mississippi, 1962. Where black maids raise white children, but aren't trusted not to steal the silver...There's Aibileen, raising her seventeenth white child and nursing the hurt caused by her own son's tragic death; Minny, whose cooking is nearly as sassy as her tongue; and white Miss Skeeter, home from College, who wants to know why her beloved maid has disappeared. Skeeter, Aibileen and Minny. No one would believe they'd be friends; fewer still would tolerate it. But as each woman finds the courage to cross boundaries, they come to depend and rely upon one another. Each is in a search of a truth. And together they have an extraordinary story to tell...'


I highly recommend this book - I couldn't put it down. The way it was written using the voices of the individual characters, the beauty she has been able to describe in situations that made me feel uncomfortable and the suspense towards the end of the book that made me so tense and nervous - I loved it all. I especially connected with the characters of Minny and Aibileen - Kathryn Stockett describes them so vividly that I have a perfect image of who they would be in my mind and they are tough, beautiful women who will stay with me for a long time.


As a child growing up in South Africa, I am vaguely aware of being looked after by 'nannies' as a small child. I don't remember much of these relationships - either good or bad - and now wish I'd paid more attention to those lovely ladies who were leaving their own families back in the townships or country to look after us for what would not have been much money (I am assuming a lot as I've never discussed these women with my mother and wonder whether she knew much about their personal lives either - should find out I guess!).


This book would make a great book club selection - there are so many issues in this book to discuss and I wonder how we would all go living in that environment. 


There is one part of the book that resonated with me ( and also I note in the back of the book, with the author herself) and that was for people to come to the realisation that "We are just two people. Not that much separates us. Not nearly as much as I'd thought".