I have a couple of things to share today. While Mr. Penguin (who never follows sport) is off with friends watching the American superbowl Ollie, Peanut (her new name from Dolly) and I have been working outdoors a bit in our ‘lockup’. Our lockup is a patio area behind the house that we enclosed with lattice and laser light ceiling years ago in order to have an enclosed area outdoors and one in which our cats can play in without roaming. I have a herb garden and our clothesline is out there too. There is too much wildlife around here to let our cats out.
Anyway, once back in the house, we filled up a box for the tip shop. I keep an empty box in the hallway and as I find things in closets and drawers we haven’t used/don’t need, into the box they go. Once full the box goes off to the tip shop. I like our tip shop as they employ people who have been out of work for quite awhile. They teach job skills and offer art projects and recycling classes to the community. However recently some teenager burned down half of it but they are now up and running again.
Now it is time for my coffee and a sit down. I have the book 1001 Classical Recordings You Must Hear Before You Die. It has been on the shelf too long so lately I have it beside my reading chair. I have a random org app on my tablet and since there are 934 pages of listed music dating from Pre 1700 to Present(2017) I use the app to randomly choose a page. Today we are listening to Domenico Cimarosa / II matrimonio segreto 1792. I am not familiar with this composer but I am enjoying the orchestral work very much. We have a subscription to Amazon Prime music and a few bluetooth speakers around the house. I find they have everything I’ve asked of them lately so am not disappointed. We also use it for gym work. So I’d say we get our money’s worth.
But back to the books. I received an email from Fullers Bookshop in Hobart that our reading groups are starting back in March. I have missed our book group so much. We are not meeting in the shop as before as the small circle of people is not Covid friendly. Instead we are meeting in an old pub/restaurant down the street from the shop. Hadleys Hotel/Restaurant. They have held book festivals there before and there is a big bar area where we can purchase drinks and there is plenty of room for social distancing. I am looking forward to it. The book list has been released for a few months and we have a new facilitator. She is a history/literature PhD who has returned to Tasmania after teaching in the USA and UK for the past 15 years. The book list is very different to book lists of the past. We have authors, both female and male, from UK, USA, Australia and more specifically Tasmania. We have translated fiction, mysteries, popular and non fiction. We are all to meet soon in February as a meet and greet. It is suggested we each provide a reading from something that kept us going through lockdown.
The March book is one I have begun as it is due first week of March. It is a Russian mystery and I am really enjoying it so far. I am reading at least 30 pages a day to ensure I get it completed as there are other things I want to read alongside it. The book is called City of Ghosts and the author is Ben Creed published by Welbeck Publishing Group, London.
The publisher’s site states:
“Welbeck Publishing Group has signed a three-book deal with debut historical writer Ben Creed. (Ben Creed is the pseudonym for Chris Rickaby and Barney Thompson.)
Jon Elek, fiction publisher, acquired UK & Commonwealth rights to City of Ghosts and two sequels from Giles Milburn at the Madeleine Milburn Literary Agency. Welbeck will publish in October 2020.
City of Ghosts is set in the Soviet Union in the final years of Stalin’s regime and follows senior lieutenant Revol Rossel as he investigates the discovery of five mutilated corpses neatly laid out on a railway track outside Leningrad. Rossel sets about piecing together fragments and clues from the murders, following a trail that leads to the heart of the Soviet establishment.
Creed commented: “I have always been fascinated by Russian and Soviet history, and I’m magnetically drawn to the human stories that show how people navigated the perils, terrors and absurdities of life under Stalin.”
The cover of the book states that investigator Revol Russel who was once a virtuoso violinist with a glittering future (until Stalin destroyed his fingers). The mystery takes him into the dark heart of Leningrad’s musical establishment and ultimately to the highest levels of the Kremlin.
It will be interesting to see how a book of this genre is discussed as I don’t believe we have had crime books in our groups in the past. It is quite graphic and I wonder how people will go with that. References to WWII in Russia, certainly in context. The writing is very good and I was hesitant when I first looked at this book but I sat down and read the first 50 pages and am now right into it. I’m getting my head around all of the Russian names. I’ll let you know how we go with the discussion.
I’m still listening to the Odyssey and enjoying it but I did put it on hold a couple of days to listen to a couple of Backlisted podcasts and do life things.
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My Weekly Journal
Caught up last week with a good friend at Fullers cafe for a bite of lunch, a short shop and then coffee at the beachside. A lovely day. Ollie was at the vets for a day being checked over. He is being looked at for Addison’s disease though his blood work is in the gray area. His ultrasound showed small adrenal glands and we will monitor how much cortisol they are producing. So no firm diagnosis but might or might not be later. He has picked up quite a bit living with our little Peanut. What a ittle firecracker she is.
I am starting back at the gym next week after my surgery and will hopefully get my condition back I lost during the past two months. Taking it easy at twice a week for the time being and will get some longer walks in also.
I guess this post has turned into a Monday Miscellaneous but I feel caught up now. Stay tuned to see if anything exciting happens this week. 😊🐧
and although she is not fitting societal norms of what a woman is supposed to be like in Japan she manages to come to terms with it, finding her own place in the world and continuing onwards. It is an unusual story and one learns about more of the expectation upon women in Japan. She defies the traditional norms and succeeds wonderfully in getting to accept who she is and what she wants out of life, as simple as it is. I really enjoyed it.
Her description of the family and especially the patriarch Fred Trump, (Donald’s father) and the siblings of Donald are as objective as one in that position can possibly be. After reading how Fred treated all of his children it is no wonder Donald is as he is. It certainly helps one to understand him but it doesn’t make me like him any better. He is a very damaged man and that is apparent to most people in this world. I am glad I read it and I liked the author very much.
do is that when one returns from an extensive trip nobody takes any interest in it. Questions aren’t really asked and instead family are more interested in what you had for dinner last night or have you seen such and such on Netflix. Friends often say, “Did you have a good time?” and that is the end of the conversation. The author explains this is his experience also and he can’t get over how life just on as normal as if he was never away.
A Penguin's Journey- Books, Travel, Photography 