Past, Present and Future (books 36-40 2015)

36 - The Illustrated Wee Free Men - Terry Pratchett and Stephen Player

The Queen of the Fairies steals Tiffany Aching's sticky and irritating younger brother. As nobody else is likely to rescue him, Tiffany, a practical, sensible and responsible girl, sets out to do the job herself, with help from the drinkin' fightin' and stealin' Nac Mac Feegle.

I know the text version of this well and enjoy it very much, so when I saw an illustrated version in the library I thought I would be lovely to revisit The Chalk. The story was as wonderful as ever, the illustrations beautifully done. I especially loved the feegles trying to steal letters from the text.

Two days after I finished reading it, I found my very own forgotten copy, sitting sadly in my bookshelf...

37 - Get Over Yourself (Princeless Vol. 2) - Jeremy Whitley and Emily Martin

Adrienne, Bedelia and Sparky continue on their quest to rescue Adrienne's sisters - though she doesn't find quite what she expects the first time she encounters one. This book was not quite as strong as the first, with some unrevealed plot points being a touch obvious - though it will be fun to see certain characters work those things out. Regardless of faults, it's a fast-paced adventure with protagonists who are doing their best to work things out as they go and keep trouble at bay. There's plenty being set up for the rest of the series, and I look forward to seeing where it goes.

38 - Kaleidoscope: Diverse YA Science Fiction and Fantasy Stories

Kaleidoscope is a celebration of diversity of all kinds, and a wonderful collection of YA short stories. It won Best Anthology at the 2014 Aurealis Awards and several of the stories within were nominated or won awards in their own right. I've written a little on some of my personal favourites.

The first story Cookie Cutter Superhero by Tansy Rayner Roberts was a great start that looked at gender, disability and superheroes, focusing on the expectations that a society has surrounding its superheroes.

As I've read Twinmaker and Crashland by Sean Williams, I was keen to read The Legend Trap a story centred on a group of teens exploring an urban legend surrounding teleportation, a technology that is a very everyday part of their lives. They get a great deal more than they bargained for...

End of Service by Gabriela Lee is a wonderfully disturbing story in which a girl whose mother, who worked overseas and was consequently rarely present, has died. I am lost on how to describe it much further without giving the game away.

Happy Go Lucky by Garth Nix is a story set in a dystopian future. The main character lives in a society where quantified luck defines your rights, privileges and opportunities. The story has a point to make regarding the current politics surrounding asylum seekers and the "stop the boats" policy in Australia.

39 - Gnarr! How I Became the Mayor of a Large City in Iceland and Changed the World - Jon Gnarr

An autobiography of Jon Gnarr, who founded the Best Party to satirize the political system in Iceland, then won office.

Honestly, this was a bit disappointing. There were a few interesting bits but they were the exception, given what I'd heard of this public figure I was hoping for rather more than I got. Whether reflective of the original or a result of translation, the writing quality was not as good in quality as I expected.

40 - Peacemaker (Peacemaker #1) - Marianne de Pierres

Virgin Jackson is the senior ranger in Birrimun Park, the last natural landscape in Australia. Certainly, the cactuses aren't strictly accurate but tourists expect cacti in a desert, and they are necessary to keep the park open and maintained. It is in the Western Quarter of a vast megacity that sprawls along Australia's eastern coast. The night before a visiting ranger is expected to arrive, there is a murder in the park. Virgin and the visiting ranger, Nate Sixkiller, are dragged into a situation that rapidly spirals out of control.

It's difficult to define the genre, it's not unusual to find a genre-crossing book but this one has a bit of everything. It's a Western/Mystery/SciFi/Horror/Fantasy/Romance/Action/... that promises to be the starting point of a highly innovative series.

I found the romance handling a bit cringe-worthy, but I'm willing to say that's just a matter of personal taste. When I look beyond that, there's a lot to enjoy. Parallels are drawn with the political and social environment of Australia today, speculating what might come of these.

Fairies, knights, adventures and cannibalism (books 31-35 for 2015)

Oooh, wow. Time I stopped reading for a few seconds and made a bit of an effort to at least partly catch up.

31 - The Darkest Part of the Forest - Holly Black

In Fairfold the fairies and elves are largely unseen, but close to hand. The locals know how to behave to remain safe, and their tourist industry is thriving. A few tourists die horribly each year but it's expected. Fairies and elves are captivating, but deadly. In an unbreakable glass coffin in the woods a boy with horns has slept for generations...

I enjoy dark fantasy, and this was an enjoyable way to spend an evening. The way that fairies and elves fit into this world and how they and Fairfold interacted clearly had a lot of research behind it. I found the relationships between the key characters interesting, if a bit overdone for my preferences. So all in all, worth the time to read if not likely to feature on this year's best-of list.

32 - The One Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared - Jonas Jonasson

On his 100th birthday Allan Karlsson is sitting in a nursing home room, while preparations for a party go on. The Mayor will be there, as will the local media. Allan decides he doesn't like the way things are going - so he leaves, via the window, to anywhere but here. Along the way he meets a curious cast of travelling companions and we hear the story of his extraordinary life.

This will be hard to beat for the best book I've read this year. The story drew me in, so much so that I nearly missed a train stop. Truly hilarious too, my fellow commuters (and before that, fellow campers) gave me some worried looks as I repeatedly failed to contain laughter. When I saw this circulating madly in the library a year or so ago I assumed it was just another so-so flavour of the minute, I'm pleased to report that I was wrong.

I'd recommend this to just about anyone. If you haven't read it, do. It's not a difficult read and the reward is spectacular!

33 - Save yourself! (Princeless, vol. 1) - Jeremy Whitely et. al.

Princess Adrienne has no interest in waiting to be rescued from her tower, and the dragon guarding her isn't keen on her intended fate either. So the two of them set out to rescue Adrienne's sisters...

A quick read, I picked this up after seeing it on a recommended reading list... somewhere ... a while ago. A funny, clever story. More aimed at children, but  I've never let that stop me enjoying a good story.

34-35 - International Flavour and Just Desserts (Chew v. 2-3) - John Layman

Two more books in this inventive, humourous and rather gruesome series. I've read several more volumes since, and well... it gets better later on. These were still pretty decent. These books start laying down more groundwork for a much longer story arc. My memories of the others I've read since have got a bit jumbled with these, so I'll write more when I review those.

Craftiness (2015 photos)

Week 20 (4-10 May)

A couple of this week's photos are of cards I made in the past week. I like simple designs and precise techniques. I don't really have a lot to say this week, though it was a good week. I was especially pleased with my performance at netball this week. My fitness is improving rapidly (as one team member suggested, Netball is basically an hour of interval training) and I'm doing well in GK. I went a long because I love the opportunity to get out have a run on a team with friends, but I'm finding more than that. I haven't taken any photos, though, as I've been too busy on court.

Looking up (photo post)

Week 19 (27 April - 3 May)

Things started to look up a bit this week. Sure, some of the troubles I've had for the last few months are still hanging about (the job search continues) but things have happened that have relieved my stress somewhat.

One upside of this is I feel more able and inspired to take good care of myself. I'm cooking more and enjoying the delicious rewards of that. The photo I featured is a self-saucing lemon pudding that I made with lemons from Mum and Dad's lemon tree.

Other upsides of the stress reduction are a bit of an improvement in my creative output - the book title story in the last photo is one example. I've also started a clean up and out of the house - going through and re-ordering drawers and well, everything. I'm doing it a little at a time and aiming for the house to be a little better when I go to bed than when I woke up. I've only really had one fail day, and the next day I was right back on track. Seeing things improve bit by bit is enough to keep the motivation going.

So there's nothing earth-shattering in this week's post, but nevertheless, things are looking up. I still have some challenges, but I'm dealing better with them now that one of my big stresses is somewhat relieved.

A sort-of recipe (and week 18 of my 2015 photos)

Week 18 (20-26 April)

This is a highly disorganised sort-of recipe, because like many things I cook, I made it up as I went along. I follow recipes for things that aren't very forgiving but otherwise I like to experiment a bit. Quantities are vague or guesses, because I didn't use any measuring tools whatsoever. It's titled 'Apple Filo Dessert' because although it's somewhat strudel-y I don't know what else to call it.  Presentation is conversational and informal, because.

Apple Filo Dessert

First, make cheat-y stewed apples. Take one apple, peel if you wish (I didn't), remove the core and chop into small, flat slices. Put in a microwave-proof bowl with a tiny bit of water, a spoonful of brown sugar, a handful of sultanas, a knob of butter and a sprinkling of cinnamon. Stir. Cover bowl with a plate/lid/whatever and microwave for a minute or two, however long it takes for the apple to go soft.

Next, prepare filo pastry. When mine defrosted it turned out to have split into quarters along the fold lines. No worries. I can work with this, just a bit of a jigsaw, and small serves instead of one large one.

Melt a couple teaspoons of butter in a small dish. Lay one piece of filo pastry on a board and brush it with butter. Put another on top, and brush with butter again. Repeat until the pastry is at least five layers deep. Tidy up the edges if you want. Place slices of apple, overlapping, along one edge of the pastry, make sure some sultanas get in there as well. At this point you can choose to either fold or roll the pastry - I made three, and the one that's shown is rolled but really, be as creative as you like here. Once that's done, put in a baking tray on baking paper and brush with butter again. These were baked at 180 degrees celsius for half an hour, but if you make something larger you might need to wing it and guess the time...

Enjoy hot, or let them cool. They're pretty darn good either way.

Here are the rest of the week's photos - this was the last of the catch-up weeks I started in the last post but I left this one as the week hadn't finished yet - and then I woke up on Sunday to find the internet was out across the area, and it just came back a few hours ago.

The rose has been edited minimally, Mum has one variety 'Jubilee 150' which is so bright you'd swear it'd been photoshopped when you look at it. The autumn leaves are also in Mum and Dad's garden, it's putting on a very colourful display at the moment.

2015: A photo odyssey, part next

This is a catch up post, I'm just going to give you a few photos for the weeks I've missed posting for rather than worrying too much about having one a day. When I set out to take these photos, I promised myself I wouldn't let it get too stressful. It's a personal project taken on for the fun of it. So next month I'm going to try using prompts again because I find them a good source of inspiration - and in the cooler months I find photographic inspiration in much shorter supply than usual.

Moving right along.

Week 13 (16-22 March)

The highlight photo is from the chocolate walking tour I went on - a birthday present from Mum and Dad as this year I decided that I was more interested in doing things with people than coming up with a list of stuff. It was amazing! We stopped at seven venues, tried an amazing variety of chocolatey things and learned quite a bit as we went! This mint iced chocolate from Steven ter Horst was absolutely wonderful.

Week 14 (23-29 March)

 

The most significant thing this week, was that with incredibly inconvenient timing, my phone completely failed. Attempts at bring it back failed, and a new phone was ordered. After a phoneless week, I got the new one... which has a fault with the aux out. So it's gone back for repairs and as I write this I'm using a temporary very cheap phone I bought. It's got an incredibly dreadful camera in it, and I'm eager to have the very nice new phone back.

The highlight photo I chose because I preferred it to the dead phone photo (which is the first little one, I was feeling silly that day). It's part of my back fence, though the gate is in the neighbours' section. It's a heritage listed stable wall and gradually crumbling but it is quite beautiful.

Week 15 (March 30-April 5)

The highlight this week was a camping trip - I spent the long weekend with a great group of people camping, walking, photographing and snorkelling. There's a much bigger album of photos on Facebook if you are interested. The highlight is a fishing boat on the beach at Pondalowie Bay, near our campsite. The oldest graffiti is from 2008, so at a guess that's roughly how long it's been there. It made an amazing photography subject (and backdrop)!

During this week I actually had my new phone, I had some important calls to make/take and hung onto it until I could arrange a substitute. The photo of my feet has a short story - I took a photo much like it for Instagram on my previous phone, but I wasn't able to send it out before my phone shut itself down for the last time, not able to connect to a computer for retrieval (thankfully all but that photo had been backed up).

Week 16 (6-12 April)

A pretty normal week, mostly, and one for getting things done. In the case of the first photo, with a chai and in the Adelaide City Library. After my  haircut, I had work to get done on a deadline. The library proved to be a great place to plug in and get things sorted out.

I also went to a Board Games Day event - and won the door prize! Otherwise it was a good but unremarkable week of getting things done.

Week 17 (13-19 April)

Bacon + Eggs + Pancakes + Maple Syrup is the love story that won me some movie tickets in a twitter competition. There really only was one way to celebrate...

Side note, I actually like this one highlight, other smaller photos format. It's far less time consuming to put together, and I think it looks better too. Just as well I decided to change format for the catch up!