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I read this a few months ago but have been putting off writing the review. Catherine Chidgey wrote this novel and I was drawn the serenity of the cover. (more…)

My friend Deidre who’s just been staying has brought me up to date on all the happenings with my old cycling buddies from my time in the UK. #1 inspiration had to be Nicky Crowther who got me started with mountain bike racing.

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As my kids would say: “Made you look, made you stare, made you lose your underwear!”

Emergency Sex
May 2006: well, it’s a year since I read this book and it was fantastic. And relevant. And has shaped how I view the news and the events that I’ve read about since.

The book follows the fortunes of the three authors as they work with the United Nations, first in Vietnam and then to other hot spots. Heidi comes across as flaky but you know that a) she was probably very good at her job and b) they still needed people working at her level. Ken seems solid, reliable and nice while Andrew is just a marvel and how any person could hold it together after what he had to do in Europe and Africa is amazing. We need people like him, and we need them to know just how much we appreciate what they do.

Towards the end the grittiness turned from fascinating to unpleasant and then back to fascinating. If I could just get the mental images out of my head…

This is, however, a recommended read.

Wow, I went to my Book Club (gets me out of the house and away from the PC) two nights ago and brought home The Third Person by Steve Mosby! It’s gritty and not entirely pleasant but totally gripping. (more…)

My reading list for 2005

• Q & A - A novel
• Z by Jonar Nader
• Garlic and Sapphires by Ruth Reichl

and isn’t it fascinating that the books have different covers around the world? The cover for Emergency Sex is totally different, and the local version is much cooler.

Brick Lane by Monica Ali got huge press when it was first released and it’s taken me a long time to get around to reading it and I’m so glad I did.

When I lived in London, as all Kiwis do at some stage, I had friends living in squats in the estates she describes, I sold pharmaceuticals to Doctors just like the one in the book, and I lived, for a year, in Wembley which was dominated by “Asians”.

It’s funny, because in NZ Asians come from China, Korea and Thailand while Indians come from India, Bangladesh and Pakistan. In the UK Asians come from the subcontinent and Orientals come from China etc. Most people in both nations make little effort to distinguish any further.

It was fabulous reading the book, telling the London story from the other side. I knew the landscape, the people but I was also being offered a rare glimpse inside.

Thank you Monica, for writing Brick Lane.