The Fire Rose by Mercedes Lackey

This is the third audio book I have indulged in recently and was borrowed on a whim.

The description gave little away of the story and as I listened I became more and more intrigued about the mystery of it all and what would happen next.

It was adventurous and exciting with moments of suspense, full of well written characters that I either loved or despised accordingly.  Rose is a wonderfully strong female lead and I loved the mischievous elementals.  Eventually there were some predictable happenings as well as some surprises but I wasn't disappointed by anything and enjoyed it so much to finish off the 11 discs in a couple of days.

Loved the imagery, the fantasy, the magic, the costumes...it would be amazing on screen with a dash of steampunk perhaps.

Look forward to reading more in the series.

The Gallery of Vanishing Husbands by Natasha Solomons

Intriguing

Enigmatic

I loved this story.

I loved each characters mystery and quirks.

I loved Juliet's boldness in a world of expectations.

I loved her fascination with how people, things and places are ween through an artists eyes, with portraiture capturing ourselves and others.

I loved the talk of art and the urge of it under the skin of each artist or beholder.

I loved the secrets.

I loved that Juliet's father eventually realised that he was proud of her individuality.

I loved the sense of community and the sensation of feeling out of place, out of your depths, of not belonging - so human, so real and true.

I loved the pace of the story.

I love the title.

I love the friendships, the admiration they had for each other.

They remained true to themselves, not really trying to change just adventuring alongside the borders of new and different territories.

Beautifully inspiring.

Love in Small Letters by Francesc Mirailles

This is one of the nicest books I've read in years,

absolutely loved it from start to finish!

The title caught my eye straight away and the chapter titles continued in style.

I would have devoured it straight if I hadn't started reading it aloud to my kids!

Very real and human.

It touched so many emotions and all the wonderful cultural references made it thought provoking and inspiring.

I loved these unusual and eccentric characters all amusing and attractive in their individual ways including Mishima who rubs his way through the legs of the story with impeccable timing.

Often I don't want a good book to end or I become nervous as the end approaches hoping it won't be disappointing but I must say that this is one of the best endings I've ever read.  I found it to be clever and satisfying, with a lovely completeness about it.

Will be reading again soon.

Serial poetry

Petits pas = arriver

My singing eye

Dances to the din

Of dizzy dandelions

Wishes colliding

On the tapestry

Of life.

Become a serial letter writer!

The Robe of Skulls by Vivian French

Two wonderful evenings spent listening to the audio version of this book with my kids, in the car and at home.

I have been reading to them for 12 years so it was such a treat to experience being read to again!

Lovely quiet, calm and relaxing.

The Robe of Skulls...we loved it.

Fantastical adventure, an array of interesting, curious and likeable characters including an excitable path!

Great descriptive imagery especially Gubble, all brought together by Nigel Planer's reading.

Lots of smiles and laughs for us.

Will be looking for the next in tales of the five kingdoms and using my costume skills to design a robe of skulls!

CAIRO by Chris Womersley

Straight away my intuition was that there would be a tragic element at the end of all this.

I knew all along more or less what would happen, like when you witness something but are powerless or prevented from speaking or warning.  

There was a real cringe factor.  Youth, naïveté , denial, deception...all so blatantly obvious.

The cruel self interested games of manipulation people play.

So sad.

Could have been worse for Tom.

I enjoyed it without loving it.

Liked the familiar streetscapes.

Some small relief with the present? Left behind by sally.

I couldn't think of anything worse than going away with those disjointed couples.

Perhaps the experience wisened him up, one would hope it woke him up to the importance of doing your own thing, being your own person.

I felt uncomfortable because I recognised my own naive self.

What letters reveal...

Hi Andrea,

Just thought I would touch base and give you an update.

I hope your break was reposing.
Our summer and autumn holidays were lovely and full of distractions.
Like Oscar Wilde, I can resist anything but temptation!
My main one being books which is promising for a hopeful future librarian but not for getting anything else done!

Unfortunately, I didn't quite reach my 2014 end of year study goal and am paying for that now with a term already gone.  I don't know where it went but it lost me along the way.
I will be doing my best to get it together this weekend after having re-attacked my tasks on Thursday so it is all fresh in my head again.

I believe I need to complete 9 electives and figure I will be working hard to finish up this year and hope you will guide me in choosing these soon.  I have some direction already but not being in a library will surely govern some choices.
There is a large possibility that we will head overseas early next year so hopefully a little urgency will do wonders.  If you have any information about the course equivalences in Europe that will be helpful.

There have been a few life and family things harder to juggle over the months but some balance has returned. 
So many roles we play...
We talk about using 'the cloud' these days but honestly I think I've been doing that for years already!  Not that I can retrieve anything in mine.

Some of my casual work has become a lot more demanding recently and my own creative ventures are always overwhelming me so I am trying hard to prioritise and concentrate on what I feel most passionate about.  I really do feel that I will find satisfaction blending library/education together in some way yet to see or imagine.  If I am honest, classroom teaching is not where I want to be.

So there is plenty to do and I will be working hard on my focusing/discipline strategies to achieve it all.
Lucky I'm an optimist.

happy weekend adventures,
Tina Pech