BOOKS I've been reading - is your book on my list?

Hello everyone!

Thanks to you all for reading my Macbeth-ed up flash fiction for the WEP challenge. I had a lot of fun writing it and apparently those who read it thought the mean girls were a hoot.

I've been reading up a storm as usual. So many good books, both e-book and print. I can't talk about all the ones I loved in one blog post, so I'll talk about just a few today. I'm not even going to mention the James Patterson's, the Jeffrey Deaver's, and the very excellent Richard North Patterson's THE RACE, which is recommended reading for anyone interested in behind-the-scenes US elections. Woah! Boy, does it mess with your mind.  Sorry...I did mention them...

Talk about un-put-downable! The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards. I devoured it in a few gulps! Imagine you hide a life-shattering secret your whole life. By witholding it you sour your marriage, your relationship with everyone around you--your life is lived by hiding behind the lens of your camera.

But secrets will out in an altogether heart-wrenching way.

Mesmerizing, beautifully written, a tale of regret and redemption.

This lady can write! I've known Cathy since my days writing for #FridayFlash. Some of her stories never leave you, so haunting are they. So when I bought her debut novel, I wasn't disappointed. She's a crack up and her book is mighty funny...but also surprisingly poignant.

In the interest of time I'll paraphrase the Amazon blurb: You think you've got the world by the woo-hoo, don't you? Happily married? Oh yeah. Good kids? Uh huh. That's what Weezie Polk thought until one day the man who would never cheat on her (never, never, oh no, not him) was caught massaging bare boobies ... and they weren't hers!  I've just bought 'Friday Girls', her book of short stories.

I'm planning to go to Cuba next year if the world hasn't already gone to hell in a hand basket -- Los Angeles, Mexico City, Cuba, then a bit more of the Caribbean, before checking out Florida or New Orleans before heading back to Oz. Cuba is the main focus, so to get the research started (well, I did read an excellent book, last year-- The Island that Dared, by Derula Murphy), I picked up blogger Jo Carroll's book. She visited Cuba early this year and already has her book out. In Jo's book I found very un-Lonely Planet up to date info. peppered with personal stories from Cubaneros she met. I'd recommend this to anyone heading to Cuba.

I emailed Jo and asked her a question to accompany my shout out--

Denise: Jo, what is the difference between a tourist and a traveller?

Jo:  ...a tourist is generally on holiday. The focus is on the destination - he/she may be deeply interested in where they are, eat local food, listen to guides etc - but this journey is a pause in their normal way of being.

A traveller is more likely see the journey as part of who they are. They could no more stop travelling than chew an arm off. A tourist would miss holidays. But a traveller cannot imagine not dreaming of the next trip.

Check out Jo's blog  if you like travel books and tales.

I've been reading some sci-fi/romance lately, and this is one of the best. Written in collaboration--bloggers Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner. This YA book has won some prestigious awards, including:

• The Aurealis Award - Australia's most prestigious science fiction and fantasy award for Best Young Adult Novel.
• And it has been optioned for television by Haven star Eric Balfour and Off the Grid Entertainment. Can't wait for this.

I'm currently reading it with a Year 9 student and we both love it. 
Here's a taster from the website: 

It’s a night like any other on board the Icarus. Then, catastrophe strikes: the massive luxury spaceliner is yanked out of hyperspace and plummets into the nearest planet. Lilac LaRoux and Tarver Merendsen survive. And they seem to be alone.

Lilac is the daughter of the richest man in the universe. Tarver comes from nothing, a young war hero who learned long ago that girls like Lilac are more trouble than they’re worth. But with only each other to rely on, Lilac and Tarver must work together, making a tortuous journey across the eerie, deserted terrain to seek help.

Then, against all odds, Lilac and Tarver finda strange blessing in the tragedy that has thrown them into each other’s arms. Without the hope of a future together in their own world, they begin to wonder—would they be better off staying here forever?

Everything changes when they uncover the truth behind the chilling whispers that haunt their every step. Lilac and Tarver may find a way off this planet. But they won’t be the same people who landed on it.

The first in a sweeping science fiction trilogy, These Broken Stars is a timeless love story about hope and survival in the face of unthinkable odds.

And it's a wonderful story. 

So that's just a few of the amazing books I've read lately. Of course my Kindle is groaning with many others. Until next time...

• What have you been reading lately? 

And congratulations to Deniz and Ryan Bevan on the birth of their daughter! 

#AtoZChallenge - BLOGGERS WERE CHILDREN TOO! - C is for Cathy (Life on the Muskoka River)

Hello!

Regular followers and visitors to this site will know I'm using BLOGGERS WERE CHILDREN TOO! for my theme this year. I hope you're enjoying reading about bloggers, some you know and some you may not yet know, as they respond to some prompts I sent out. I've been so grateful for their responses as it helped me to get to know them better, admire their stunning cuteness as babes, and delighted me with random facts.

Thank you Adult Bloggers for your heartfelt responses. Thank you readers for visiting my posts. I hope you'll leave a comment and if you'd like to follow the link to my respondents' blogs they'd be delighted to meet you.

Rock on A- Z Challenge. (Click to read more posts...)

Yesterday was Laura Bambery...

Today:

C is for Cathy (Life on the Muskoka River) Olliffe-Webster

I WAS BORN IN:  Weston, Ontario, Canada. Back then, Weston was its own town but it has since been gobbled up by the megalopolis that is Toronto. I think it's now simply referred to as "the west end." My first two years in "the Big Smoke" is the only time I've lived in a city.

I GREW UP IN:  My father was a railway engineer (for the Canadian Pacific Railway) and because of his job we moved frequently. I grew up in two places, mainly - Midland, Ontario (on the shore of Georgian Bay (on Lake Huron, one of the Great Lakes), about two hours north of Toronto) and then Markham, Ontario, which is only about a half hour north of T.O. 

  Midland was a rowdy northern frontier kind of a place. People either worked for the railway or for lake freighters. It was a mix of French Canadians and red-necked white folk, and they all liked nothing better than a few beers at the hotel in nearby Port McNicholl.

  Markham was "small town" in every sense of the word when I lived there. A farming community, it was conservative and straitlaced and really rather boring. Since I left it has become a bedroom community for Toronto and is now huge and unrecognizable. Like Australia, Canada is a relatively "new" country and is still being developed.

  My parents also had a cottage on Twelve Mile Lake in the Haliburton Highlands, about two-and-a-half hours north of Markham. We spent every summer there. I learned to swim, waterski, canoe and how to french kiss. It was the best place on earth.

MY FAVOURITE HOME WAS IN: The cottage. (Sigh.) I wish my parents hadn't sold it.

MY BEST CHILDHOOD MEMORY IS: In Grade 4 I won first prize for poetry in a class contest. There were also prizes for essay writing and storytelling. All three winners were taken to the A &W drive-in restaurant for hamburgers - in my cool teacher's extremely cool 1967 Mustang convertible. I don't know what was sweeter, the root beer or recognition for my writing. But I'll never forget cruising with the top down on a warm summer evening in June.

MY WORST CHILDHOOD MEMORY IS: There are so many: the time my boyfriend's mother caught us necking on the couch; the time I ran away from home; one of the many, many fights with my father... but I think the worst was this - I was at my uncle's cottage, hanging around with a neighbour girl. We had fun, I think, until we got to fighting over something. God knows what it was. Anyway, I shot my mouth off to the kid, made her cry, and then marched off in an indignant, dramatic huff. I got back to my uncle's cottage and my mom said, "where's your beach robe?" I had left it at the girl's cottage. I begged my mother not to make me go back but she insisted, probably to teach me a lesson about being mean and nasty. So I slunk back with my tail between my legs, apologized to the girl and asked for my robe back. The girl's mother gave me a lecture that was so sharp that I can still feel its sting.

TODAY I LIVE IN:  Bracebridge, Ontario, on the banks of the Muskoka River. I live in a tiny log cabin built in 1880. It was one of the first homes built in this area. Bracebridge is in Muskoka, the heart of Ontario's cottage country. In the summer it's where the rich and famous come to play and it's not unheard of to spot Goldie Hawn, Kurt Russell, Kate Hudson, Mike Myers or Shania Twain on the quaint main street. I made a fool of myself, once, cornering Myers in a boutique. I was such an ASS. He looked scared but he didn't sue. :)

PROUDEST WRITER MOMENT:  When I finished the 50,000 word goal in NaNoWriMo. It was a spectacular feeling.

RANDOM FACT ABOUT ME: I'm shy and always nervous meeting new people. It's like I'm afraid they'll find out what I'm REALLY like...

Cathy Olliffe-Webster is a writer and graphic artist living in a 130-year-old log cabin on the banks of the Muskoka River, near Bracebridge, Ontario, Canada. She shares her life with husband Dave, sons Angus and Sam, two cats, a squirrel-sized dog and an almost-finished novel.. Visit Cathy @ http://muskokariver.blogspot.com.au/

I hope you enjoyed learning about Cathy. Now tomorrow tune in the read about Michael di Gesu's childhood along with the Insecure Writer's Group post.


If you have a moment, pop across to RomanticFridayWriters where you'll find a flash fiction story every day! Today's is a real tear jerker.

Check out Life on the Muskoka River for my Letter from a friend - all about the Australian beach culture...

My good Canadian blogger friend, Cathy Oliffe-Webster of Life on the Muskoka River is doing a great series: Letter From a Friend so we can learn more about our blogger friends - where they come from, what they value, where they write, that sort  of thing. If you'd like to read my letter to Cathy, go here. You might especially like it if you're snowed under at the moment!

Here's a taste:

Beautiful, laid-back Peregian Beach.