Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Could Re-read Forever

I discovered this fun blog via Death By Tsundoku Top Ten Tuesday is a meme originated by The Broke and the Bookish now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week the theme is: This week the theme is: Books I Could Re-read Forever

I re-read a lot of books. They’re like old friends 🙂 Narrowing it down to my ten favourites is going to be a challenge.

1. To Kill a Mockingbird (To Kill a Mockingbird #1)

by Harper Lee

I LOVE this book.  I think I’ve read it about 10 times. I was introduced to it when I was at high school and read it under duress because a teacher had picked it and said we had to BUT I loved it 🙂 Randomly I only watched the movie with Gregory Peck for the first time last year. Still love the book better 😉

2. Rivals (Rutshire Chronicles #2)

by Jilly Cooper

I love Jilly Cooper books and have re-read them many times.  If I had to pick a favourite it would be Rivals. Sadly I was disappointed in the latest installment, Mount, but that won’t stop me from reading the next one if there is one.  they’ve been getting a little ‘same old same old’ over the past few books but they are still a good light-hearted read.

3. Carrie

by Stephen King

Most definitely my favourite Stephen King.  I re-read this every time I’m sick, which thankfully isn’t a lot but it does mean I have read quite a few times.

4. Daughter of the Blood (The Black Jewels #1)

by Anne Bishop

Anne Bishop would probably be my most favourite author.  I can never wait till the next one comes out and keep an eye on both Amazon and Book Depository for release dates.  I have re-read the first 3 books in the Black Jewels Trilogy, which it was released as originally, at least 6 times.  My daughter also loves this series and I often have to hunt her down if I want to re-read them.

5. Written in Red (The Others #1)

by Anne Bishop

I know it’s the same author but I have just finished re-reading this series up to the one being released this year.  I love this series as much as the Black Jewels.

6. Wizard’s First Rule (Sword of Truth #1)

by Terry Goodkind

I’ve read this one 3 times now and still love it.  It grabbed me from the first line way back in the mid 90’s and I still enjoy the series.  Have them all stacked up in the spare bedroom waiting for me to re-start the whole series again 🙂 Might have to wait till the end of the year though, what with the Popsugar challenge and all 😉

7. Postmortem (Kay Scarpetta #1)

by Patricia Cornwell

Love this series and have re-read several of them over the years 🙂 Have even convinced my husband to read them and he’s only read about 10 books in his entire life.

8. The Wee Free Men (Discworld #30)

by Terry Pratchett

Good lord this book makes me laugh.  The rest in the series are also good for hilarity but you just can’t beat the original for belly hurts and eye leakage.  Don’t read in a public place though.  Sometimes the sentences don’t make any sense until you say them out loud and talking to yourself in public is both frowned upon and also a sign of madness.  A great book to re-read whenever life gets sucky.

9. Cross Stitch (Outlander #1)

by Diana Gabaldon

Once again the first book is definitely the best.  Whenever I need a little love I reach for Jamie and Claires story 🙂

10. Guilty Pleasures (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, #1)
by Laurell K. Hamilton

I have re-read the first few of this series loads of times 🙂 You just can’t beat a story about an ass-kicking zombie raiser that has too many monsters in her life.  Sadly, after about book 7, it all starts to get a little boring but the first few remain some of my favourite books 🙂

Well that’s my list for today.  At least it is while I think about it right now.  What would be on yours?

Ka Kete Ano xx

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Swamped is a mild word for this year

Round up of the first 6 weeks of 2018

This year has started with a bang. I ended the year with a hike up to the top of Wairere Falls.  This is the tallest waterfall in New Zealand at 150m high.  It’s a 5km round trip and the stairs are bloody horrible but the view is spectacular 🙂

 

We ran straight into the New Years Day with a fantastic breakfast with some fabulous friends.A couple of days later my darling husband and  I decided to go for a wee hike out the back of Waihi.

 

The weekend bought about the first event of the season with a 5km round the mount run at 2pm on a day that was around 30 degrees.  Way too hot for running.  My friend D did it in just over 25 minutes and then had enough time to make 2 coffees while waiting for me to finish 😉 I’m not fast but I’m doing it 😀

 

Then it cycloned.  The sea was rather scary.

 

We bought ourselves some new push bikes and as soon as the weather cleared up we took our inaugural ride. 20km around 😀

Sadly this was the end of our summer holiday and it was back to work as well as back into the gym.  Nearly died in the heat.

 

 

D immediately dragged us back up the falls after work.  Made for rather a long day but I just love that view 🙂

Two weeks in we had a mini break for a Roger Waters concert.  It was on a Wednesday night in Auckland so I took the rest of the week off. Our hotel had the scariest stairwell.  We were on the top at floor 38.  We visited the Banksy exhibition the next day before heading home.

This was followed on the Saturday with the Taupo Summer Tour Concert featuring Colin Hay (Men at Work), Alanis Morissette and The Orchestra (ELO).  What a fantastic, although extremely hot, day.  Gates opened at 9 and the concert ended at 6.  Seriously going to the one next year if the line ups good 😀

While I was away the world went mental and we discovered that it’s the hottest summer on record.  This meant that when I returned to work on Monday I had 30 inquires requiring my visit.  This was quickly followed by another 10 that morning and it hasn’t slowed down yet.  12 hour days are normal and now I’m doing all my paper work on the weekend.  Still mustn’t complain.  It’s what keeps me employed 🙂

AND just because I wasn’t busy enough I committed to a 6 week challenge at the gym which is taking up an hour and a half of my time each day BUT ITS WORKING! We are 3.5 weeks in and for the first time in 3 years my boobs are bigger than my belly! I will get into all that in another post at the end of the challenge 🙂 Wish me luck because wow todays workout was tough 😉

Ka Kete Ano xx

 

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I’ve Decided I’m No Longer Interested in Reading

Because I obviously don’t have enough to do everyday I got all excited and decided to add to my weekly list 😉

I discovered this fun blog via Death By Tsundoku Top Ten Tuesday is a meme originated by The Broke and the Bookish now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week the theme is: This week the theme is: Books I’ve Decided I’m No Longer Reading.

Could I have picked a harder topic for my first one? I think not haha 😉 But here we go

All titles below are links to the book series Goodreads page.

1. The Lord of the Rings (The Lord of the Rings #1-3)

by J.R.R. Tolkien

I’m sorry.  I know this is a classic but I just can’t do it.  I have tried several times and have never gotten past the Green Man.  I fall asleep less than a page in every time and, as I have the trilogy in one large thick volume, the book near knocks me out when it hits me in the face.  I don’t know why I am apparently the only person in the world that can’t read and love this book but I am.

2. Cerulean Sins (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter #11)

by Laurell K. Hamilton

I’ve read all of the Anita Blake series up to this one.  The first few were amazing, fun and thrilling but then it all go complicated and, like all good relationships, has been ruined by too much sex with too many other people.  Anita has gone from being a kick ass zombie raising monster killer to being someone who can’t think past their belt buckle and I just can’t bring myself to pick up the rest of this series at this time.

3. Tricky Twenty-Two (Stephanie Plum #22)

byJanet Evanovich

Again, I have read this series up until this one but I’m bored.  I’ve reached a point where I feel Stephanie needs to get her shit together and doing dumb stuff without thought of consequence is becoming annoying.

4. Gerald’s Game

byStephen King

I don’t know why I couldn’t do this one because I love Stephen King and have read most of his.  The guess the premise just doesn’t interest me.  I did watch the movie on Netflix the other night as I was home alone and thought I would give it a go.  It confirmed for me that I really don’t need to read this one.

5. The Picture of Dorian Gray

byOscar Wilde

I have to admit that this one is on the list because of feed back from a friend.  Over the past few years I have been trying to read a lot of the classic’s.  I was bought up in a house where both my parents read extensively but only of modern literature.  For some reason this gave me a thirst for the classics but its only over the past few years that I have been dipping my toe in and reading them.  This one was on the list till a friend told me she hated it. Has totally put me off of picking it up.

6. My Sister’s Keeper

byJodi Picoult

The premise behind this book just makes me too angry and I can’t bring myself to read it although I have loved several of Jodi’s books in the past.

7. Solomon’s Song (The Potato Factory #3)

byBryce Courtenay

Loved the Potato Factory.  Tolerated Tommo & Hawk.  Solomon’s Song is a book too far with a story that should have ended before now.  Started it but couldn’t finish.

8. Go Ask Alice

byBeatrice Sparks(as “Anonymous”), Anonymous

I feel a bit funny putting this one on the list because I have read it many times.  I loved this book as a teenager when it was recommended by my 4th form English teacher.  It was said to be a true story published with the consent of Alice’s father.  I found out recently that it was not.  It’s a total work of Fiction.  Portraying it as a true story is in fact a lie.  This has destroyed the book for me and now I think about all the bits that seemed a little far-fetched and realise that it’s because they are.  I feel betrayed by this book now and probably will never read it again.

9. The Fiery Cross (Outlander #5)

byDiana Gabaldon

I am currently a bit bored with Jamie & Claire.  I will probably pick this series up and try again at some time in the future but for now I have put this series down halfway through this book.

10. The Pillars of Creation (Sword of Truth #7)

byTerry Goodkind

For this I feel the same as number 9 on this list.  I will probably pick this series up again some time in the future but for now its in the one day pile.

So what do you think of my list? What would be on yours?

Ka Kete Ano xx

The Ocean Hates Me

I appear to have taken on way too much this year.  Turns out I haven’t read hardly any blogs since mid January (took me all day today to catch up on a months worth!) and, worst yet, I have only written 4 myself (and they were mostly in the same week). The next few will be catch-ups so I apologise in advance if I bore you.

January was the hottest it has ever been in little ole NZ.  We have spent a lot of time swimming in the ocean and outdoors.  Turns out the sea hates me and keeps throwing its creatures at me.

First proof: I had a 20 cm Kahawai swim past me in a wave.  I ~excuse my language~ shat and left the ocean.

Second proof: Day after fishy surprise we are swimming away and a Shag popped up right beside me, looked at me, opened it’s mouth and went BEGARK very loudly. I shat and left the ocean.

Third proof: Day after feathered surprise we are swimming away and my hand starts to sting.  Lift it out of the water and find Blue Bottle (Portuguese man o’ war) jellyfish tendrils attached.  Thank god it was missing the rest of the jellyfish.  I shat and left the ocean to go home and hop about in itchy screechy pain for several hours.  FYI if are ever in this position just go stand in a hot shower.  Its the only thing that helps.

Fourth proof: Back in the water swimming away and nothing bad happens YAY then we get home to find I am COVERED in bites and have been attached by the Mount Mauler http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11776504 FYI: NOTHING helps for these.  You just scratch, put non working lotions and potions on hoping that layering may have an effect and await the end of the itch, approximately 3 days.  Doesn’t sound too bad does it, 3 days? I had over 50 of the bites and turns out sweat from incredibly humid nights does not diminish itch.  I was rather a Crabby Pattie by day 2.  You don’t want to know about day 3.

Fifth proof: Turns out Jellyfish stings are the gift that keeps on giving.  2 weeks after initial sting it flared up an itch lumpy weird mess.  Who knew that was a thing

When an itchy rash occurs several days to weeks after a sting, the rash may mean a delayed skin reaction has occurred. A delayed reaction can occur many times over the course of 1 to 2 months following a sting. You may have a fever, weakness, or joint stiffness or swelling. Medical treatment may ease the discomfort and prevent complications from a delayed reaction. https://www.webmd.com/first-aid/tc/jellyfish-sting-home-treatment-topic-overview

Sixth proof: Swimming away and I look down into the beautiful clear water to see a large crab with his nippers raised staring back at me.

I shat and left the ocean.

Ka Kete Ano xx

Crafty Bitches January 2018

After a wee seasonal break we are back.  Unfortunately we live in a country that puts all of its public holidays together in one spot so only some of us have made it back thus far but we are working on this 😉 In attendance were Toni & Ralph, Melodie, Amy & Brett and their 6 month old snuggle butt Ben.

The food theme for the evening was Australia as my husband wanted to use the BBQ.  Great in theory but bloody hard to execute when they eat pretty much what we do.  We did our best however with fairly good results.

The tummies were full, the pav was divine and the host family ate leftovers for 3 days.

The highlight of the meeting was the cuddles from our wee Ben.  I’m pretty sure he’s the most popular member of our group.

Mel kicked of the show and tell with her latest WIP.  She is crocheting a pashmina and has just started so not much to show but a good start has been made and we look forward to seeing it grow.

Annnnnnddddd that’s where show and tell stopped.  Toni got sidetracked playing with the baby and Amy left hers at home so the following photo’s have been taken from the general updates on our page.

Toni

Doctor Who scarf complete with reluctant male model.  Tiki which was a gift for a friend.

Amy

Toy for Ben

There was also supposed to be an update on the cross stitch but as it was left at home we will await its return in February.

Updates via the FB page are as follows:

Mel:

Lynda:

And that rounds up our month 🙂

Ka Kete Ano xx