Category: Fiction

A key to unknown chambers within the castle of one’s own self. (Franz Kafka)

I hope this find everyone well. I’m keeping busy but will try and focus on a couple of things both bookish and not.

Still exercising a lot with walks but weather slowed me down a bit in the past week. Will keep at it with gym and walks tomorrow.

I have been walking to the library on my gym days at times as it is on the way. I checked out the book The Boy, the mole, the fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy.

The sales blurb reads: “book for all ages, a book for all time.
Adapted into the BAFTA and Oscar winning short animated film.

Enter the world of Charlie’s four unlikely friends, discover their story and their most important life lessons.

The boy, the mole, the fox and the horse have been shared millions of times online. They’ve also been recreated by children in schools and hung on hospital walls. They sometimes even appear on lamp posts and on cafe and bookshop windows. Here, you will find them together in this book of Charlie’s most-loved drawings, adventuring into the Wild and exploring the thoughts and feelings that unite us all.

‘A wonderful work of art and a wonderful window into the human heart’ Richard Curtis”

Many of you will be familiar with it as it has been quite popular. It has beautiful inked lettering and sketches.

I finally finished my car book, This much is true by Miriam Margoyles. I was beginning to think it would never end.

I am well into Frankenstein for Adam’s book group and really enjoying it. Much different than what I was expecting. I haven’t read many books written in the 18th century and I am enjoying Mary Shelly’s writing. It is hard to believe she wrote it at age 19.

The other book I’m reading for book group is a Tasmanian book by Anette Higgs. On a bright hillside in Paradise. Paradise is a fictional small town in northeastern Tasmanian. The author wrote the story based on the tales her grandmother told her of when the Brethren came to town in the 19th century. It features a family and each chapter is a different telling from the perspective of each family member. I went to the launch of this book several months ago and picked it up. Mr P took it on his trip to Canada and enjoyed it. Now it’s my turn. The characters are well drawn and the imagery is very strong of the Tasmanian bush. I am enjoying it.

Outside of bookish news- tomorrow begins National Bird Week and the great Australian bird count. They ask people to download an app, register and spend 20 minutes in a favourite place each day and record each bird you see. I have participated in the past as a member of Birdlife Australia, a conservation organisation that lobbies for environmental changes to protect birds. They also feature stories and photography in their magazine about birds. I have always loved birds and feel a real connection to the ones who live in our yard, especially the old male wattle bird, our tamish, escapee, neighbourhood cockatoo who comes for seeds and sometimes taps on the window if we don’t pay attention to him and the magpies who sing their beautiful song. We used to get little flame robins bit not seen one now for several years and the superb blue wren population is down too but Indo see them around from time to time.

This coming week it looks to be quiet. The weather should warm ip by Tuesday and the rain and wind will rest a bit. We had shocking winds yesterday with hard rain. My last art class at Fullers is Tuesday evening. Drawing class. Has been fun but I am not a natural and fine it quite embarrassing at times. It is good to learn things to remember how it is for those who struggle in schools. I;m much better with technology which I find easy but ask me to draw, tone and shade a composition. I’m better with a camera. It is all about practise and more practise.

That wraps up the time since my last post. I’ve enjoyed reading your blogs bit just not a lot of time or energy to always comment. Hope your week goes well.

If you live outside of Australia you can hear the magpie’s call

here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYEYc8Ge3nw

….You can open again and again. ( Garrison Keillor)

Having fun this weekend . Yesterday was sunny and warm then the winds shifted over the southern ocean and the rain poured down today. Very windy too. It is spring and we turned our clocks ahead an hour today so the day feels short.

I read an interesting book this past week. It is not one I would have picked but read about it somewhere and I got it from the library.

It is The Big Tree by Brian Selznick. A quick read at 528 pages. You say, “Quick?!” Yes as most pages are large graphics, other pages are limited to a single paragraph or a single sentence. I read it in about 3 short sittings.

The blurb on the book states:

Hello, stars. I thought I heard you calling me.” A mysterious voice has been speaking to Louise in her dreams. She and her brother Merwin are Sycamore seeds, who hope to one day set down roots and become big trees. But when a fire forces them to leave their mama tree prematurely, they find themselves catapulted into the unknown, far from home. Alone and unprepared, they must use their wits and imagination to navigate a dangerous world―filled with dinosaurs, meteors, and volcanoes!―and the fear of never finding a safe place to grow up. As the mysterious voice gets louder, Louise comes to realise their mission in life may be much bigger than either of them ever could have imagined! Brimming with humour, wonder, mystery, and a profound sense of hope, Big Tree is a trailblazing adventure, illustrated with nearly 300-pages of breathtaking pictures. It is Selznick’s most imaginative and far-reaching work to date and a singular reading experience for the whole family!

It starts at the Cretaceous period and travels to current times. I loved the seeds, Merwin and Louise. The tension built as they travelled together through time and space.

I got really attached to them as their characters were so developed. I worried about them. They got trapped in a big footprint, eaten by a fish, became separated and that was only a few of their mishaps. They were looking for a place that had light, good soil and water so they could grow. They were helped along the way by other creatures.

It started originally when Steven Spielberg and Brian Selznick got together. They were going to make a film. Brian Selznick did the movie Hugo with Martin Scorsese. Then Covid hit and everything stopped so instead he made it into this big book.

It talks about the different categories of characters. I liked the Ambassadors who were the fungi that interconnected with all the trees in the forests. It is a very micro look at the interconnectedness of nature.

What else happened this week.

I spent all of last week really focusing on walks, health and getting my stamina back. I have been so breathless lately but all the exercise is getting rid of that. It has been my main priority; then at night I crash into a lounge chair and read, work on my journals, play a few mind games on the iPad and go to bed. It has been very pleasant.

I’ll share the books I found on my random walk. I finished the Edna O’Brien one I found two weeks ago. It began with a woman who has just been convicted of murdering her young lover, her son’s best friend after a love affair goes south. She is waiting to hear her penalty. It is then told in flashbacks from the beginning of the relationship to current time. It is a very tedious monologue. Lots of tangents I became bored with. I did not care for any of the characters. The story rambled and seemed all over the place. I know people love her writing but I dare say this was not one of her best.

I did another op shop walk and found these. I will decide which one to read but first need to get started on my book club reads for November. Remember the read for the Random Walk Books means the book must be preferably a classic or at least literary fiction.

Until next week….

I had a big reading week again this week. I finished the Colony by Irish writer Audrey McGee. I loved it. I can’t recommend it enough. Probably my best read this year.

I am almost finished with If On A Winter’s Night a Traveller by Italo Calvino. Only about 20% to go. I have really enjoyed working my way slowly through it.

Yesterday we had a rainy day so as I started a jigsaw puzzle of dogs I listened to Miriam Margoyles auto biography. Love her or not, she has had a very interesting life. Yesterday she talked about her days at Cambridge and breaking into stage and comedy as a female at the time the Monty Python men were becoming into our world. She was treated so badly by them, ostracised almost completely and I won’t repeat what she had to say about John Cleese. Women in comedy still have difficult times. I have no idea why men feel women can’t be as funny as them. Fragile egos I guess.

Although I read a lot, my week’s priority was walking to improve my health. Since the heart episode my stamina has been quite low. So I am walking. As much as I can. Monday had me in weight training, Tuesday was a long walk along the Hobart Rivulet track into the city. Wednesday was a rest day as I’d been out Tuesday evening with my first art lesson. That was a laugh. They served wine which made the group all relax as beginners and draw everything.

Thursday I had my personal trainer on the pilates reformer stretching my spine then we went for a coffee and chat.

Friday I was back on the treadmill at the gym for the 25 minute hill climb program then walked five kilometres around Hobart up into North Hobart.

My walking goal is to connect my walks to thrift shops to look for slim classic books. I want to read some of the smaller classics I haven’t read or read a long time ago. I don’t want to buy the newer expensive copies so I pick up the 50 cent ones or the $1.00 ones. I want ragged copies so I can write in them without feeling bad. I wanted books that are less than 150-200 pgs.

This coming week will see me finish the Calvino book and listen to more of Miriam’s book. I have the art class, three sessions at gym, a Fullers event Thursday evening then Friday our photography group is going south to the Tasman Peninsula to the old coal mine ruins to tale photos. Stay tuned for that. Hope the weather doesn’t blow us away.

I must say I’m starting to feel normal again, whatever that is. Walking really is a miracle cure for almost anything.

I might add, Ollie gets out of his pen and gets to do more as it’s been almost four weeks since his surgery.

I hope you all have a good week. If you drop by here tell me what your plans are for the week.