Books of the Week

How is Everyone dealing with Covid Lockdown.

Running out of ideas to keep your mind interested.

Puzzles and can only take you so far. Wouldn’t you agree.

If you’re a Reader, then you’ll definitely agree.

Books take us to new worlds, introduce us to new people, and cultures, catapult us to the heavens, and pull us back again.

A good book is like a rich red wine, full of body, fragrance, and taste.

Today I’m going share some of the books I’ve been reading.

Just to spread the love a bit.

Here we go read on…

Gulliver’s Wife by Lauren Chater

#laurenchater

This is the extraordinary tale of Lauren Chater’s Mary Gulliver, a midwife, herbalist, and a quietly
courageous woman of her times.

Chater eloquently weaves the wonders, terrors and deprivations of woman of the 18^th Century through her story.

She unravels the fears, the secrets and the darkness surrounding the love of her daughter, and succinctly reaches a reconciliation, that will bring tears to your eyes.

The intrigue and struggle to keep control of her own body and identity, remains relevant still in our modern day.

Gilliver’s Wife is the first novel I’ve read of Lauren Chater, but you can be sure it won’t be my last.

When The Stars Go Dark by Paula McLain

If you are someone who loves thrilling detective novels, then this book is for you.

#paulamclain

An incredibly powerful novel, with a heart pounding ending.

Anna Hart is a seasoned missing persons detective, whose life is totally burnt out, bridges and all.

She decides to travel back to the town where she has felt most happy in life, brought up by foster parents, yet even with their love, she could not put away the pain of her early childhood.

This haunting story will pull you under the covers, and keep you up until late into the night.

The Time Traveller’sWife by Audrey Niffenegger

This story is a rare thing, a truly original story line, not that love stories are new, the telling of this one
certainly is different. An amazing love story, that takes place over time.

#audreyniffenegger

The prose is beautifully executed, such a pleasure to read.

Henry journeys back and forward through time to meet up with the love of his life, Clare.

Clare narrates her childhood and teenage meetings with Henry, where some would say she was underage for such connections

Speculation of moral aspects occur despite the plot, and yet the story still remains intact.

Inventive, sensitive, original in the telling, a love story to last a lifetime, many lifetimes.

Niffenegger has shown amazing skill in making the ordinary, and the impossible seem probable, believable.

Finishing this book brought sadness, as the end was so sweet, I never wanted it to end.

Feel free to add your own book choices in the comments below.

THE READING JOURNEY

Over the last week I’ve been on a reading journey.

This is a bit different to my usual way of doing things, my reading material at times jumps all over the place, you could say reading is a passion in my life.

As I’ve said time and again, the more you read, the better the writer you’ll be.

But I digress, back to my recent reading journey.

Hadley Richardson 
  hemingwayhouse.com

Paula McLain is an amazing author, her treatment and style when descripting people and places is extraordinary.

“The Paris Wife.”  Fictionalised history has always been a winner, and from the first sentence; I was hooked.

The novel fictionalises the life of Hadley Richardson, the first wife of Ernst Hemingway, who were married in September 1921, and has forever changed my view of Ernst Hemingway.

What an emotional rollercoaster their marriage recreated against the back drop of 1920’s Paris, and France in general. There came a tragic separation and divorce, that Hemingway regretted for the rest of his life.

Travelling on to “Love & Run” set against the backdrops of Spain, Cuba, England, and Europe. 

Martha Gellhorn, a pioneering war correspondent, and Hemingway's third wife. 

Gellhorn wrote about the effects of the Great Depression and the ravages of war on the disadvantage and relocated. A style of journalism  not seen at the time, covering Spain, France, Czechoslovakia, and Finland.

Martha Gellhorn
explorethearchive.com

Gellhorn and Hemingway covered the Spanish Civil War together, and while away started a romantic relationship.

Gellhorn’s relationship with Hemingway was always rocky, she was quite career orientated, and Hemingway often resented the competition with his own career.

Besides the torturous relationships of  Hemingway and his wives is the richness of Paula McLain’s writing, you feel every emotion along the way, but its also her rich depiction of the places these couples lived, she artfully brings Paris, Cuba, 

Spain, and London alive with colour and energy.

On a fictional historical roll. I picked up “Circling the Sun” set in Africa, my dream travel destination. McLain recreates the life of Beryl Markham, racehorse trainer and breeder, adventurer and aviator. An amazingly remarkable woman.

Beryl Markham (nee Clutterbuck) was born in 1901 England, moving with her father to Africa as a child.

In 1942 Martha Gellhorn interviewed Beryl about her autobiography “West With The Nigh.”

Of course, I could not move past this connection, and travelled onto Markham’s autobiography.

Beryl’s prose is poetry in motion, walking along side her into the  African countryside. with all the love

Beryl Markham
brittanica.com

and passion she has, as she considered her native country.

The people she knew are all there in vivid glory, large as life are, Bror Blixen, Isak Dinesen, and Denys Finch Hatton.

Beryl Markham’s depiction of Africa and her lifelong tribal friendships are much richer than Karen Blixen’s reedition in “Out of Africa.”

These four books could lead me anywhere. Rich and exciting, are the stories of strong women in times when women had to be tough to get what they wanted. 

What I’m getting at is this journey was an excellent experience of two different examples of writing, different ways of treating the telling of history.

Magic Mykonos

The three colours of Mykonos, grey, blue, and white. 

Merry Christmas everyone. Hope you all got to your destinations, and were able to spend quality time with your family, and friends.

On the eve of travelling north to spend Christmas with my family in Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia.

Previously in 'Queen Victoria' I talked about my Canada/Alaska trip in 2019.

There was so many facets of this wonderful trip, that I'm going to share our first adventure with you. 

Grow Your Own

Today's topic is about growing your own. What does this have to do with travel you might think... well it has everything to do with travel.

Because if you can't physically travel to far flung places, we can at least travel through cuisine. 

Travelling in Australia

I've always loved travelling, and while I've travelled overseas, I've missed doing that of late, before Covid, my planned 2020 trip was time spent in Africa. Unfortunately, its back on the wish list, but not forgotten.

In saying world travel is fine... my own country Australia is a pretty schmick destination in anyone's book.

The beaches are stunning, the wildlife astounding. We have hinterland, bushland, rain forest, and deserts that stretch as far as the eye can see.