Wellington Reads discussion

Hi everyone -- you might have noticed we've had a bit of a hiatus on the book club, but we're back in 2014!! Last year seems to have passed so quickly, it seems amazing that it's a new year already!

Help us end our radio silence by letting us know what you've been reading over the holiday break, and what you're reading now that we're in January :-)

Christmas is a really busy time, but I managed to read Molly Oldfield's The Secret Museum, which is a really neat catalogue-type book of some of the treasures this QI (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0380136/) researcher found when she started looking into all the amazing artefacts museums and archives hold in storage, but aren't able to display. It's a really neat 'dip into' book, with little watercolour illustrations.

I came across it by reading about author Neil Gaiman's New York Public Library reading from Charles Dickens' prompt copy of A Christmas Carol (it was assembled from several copies, and has notes in the margins by Dickens -- see here http://neil-gaiman.tumblr.com/post/70...), which you can watch online: http://www.nypl.org/audiovideo/charle...

It features all kinds of amazing things like this -- including a bit about the Spanish flags captured at the Battle of Trafalgar by the British, and how they're stored. It's an amazing book, and well worth a look :-)

I started the year off with two strange ones.

The first was The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall. I'm still working through my feelings about this book, it was frequently difficult to enjoy yet I found myself captivated by it. I'm saving it as a cautious recommendation for people I know who don't mind having a difficult relationship with their reading.

The other was a novella, a snappy read at just 88 pages, Andrew Kaufman's The Tiny Wife. Something of a parable, I'd say it is whimsical even at the risk of that being taken as pejorative. For something so short it left me unexpectedly thoughtful. Definitely an hour well spent in the sun.

My next conquest is going to be The Goldfinch. Hopefully the world wont need me for the next day or so.

I really like your first paragraph above -- and the idea of a difficult recommendation and liking something but recommending it conditionally. The Raw Shark Texts sounds like science fiction? It sounds really interesting, but potentially a bit mind-bending -- does that sound right? It sort of appears like it might fit on this shelf: https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/... :-)

The Tiny Wife sounds sort of similar (both thoughtful books, but one is sf and the other magical realism, maybe) -- and short and thoughtful sounds especially good to me at the moment, so I might give it a go :-)

And before we know it, it will be February ... I have been reading a great selection but highlights have been 'Gone Girl' which I'm halfway through, and 'Red Joan' which I have only just finished today and I just loved! Wish holidays could go on forever!

Celeste wrote: "Hi everyone -- you might have noticed we've had a bit of a hiatus on the book club, but we're back in 2014!! Last year seems to have passed so quickly, it seems amazing that it's a new year already..."

Wow, the Secret Museum sounds amazing! It went straight on my to-read list.

I haven't been getting much reading done lately - strangely enough, I seem to have less reading time during the holidays than I do when I'm working! At the moment I'm reading The Hakawati which I'm really enjoying - it describes itself as a modern Arabian Nights and it sets traditional middle eastern folktales alongside a modern-day story of an Egyptian family.

I'm also reading Nights In The Gardens Of Spain. Witi Ihimaera is one of my favourite authors and this book has been on my list for a whiile, and I'm really enjoying that one as well!! Feeling very good-reading-rich at the moment :o)

I love being on holiday...so much more time to read! This year I was traveling through Jan (just got home yest) so had to read books I found along the way. Read Catching Fire as I'd just finished the first book in the series in Dec. Great read- absorbing!

Then I read The Girl in the Polka Dot dress which was well written but end was disappointing (didn't realise author had died before book was finished so it wasn't her fault).

Also read Post Office which was recommend to me by my bf.and really liked it. Going to check out more of his writing this year.

Erica wrote: "I love being on holiday...so much more time to read! This year I was traveling through Jan (just got home yest) so had to read books I found along the way. Read Catching Fire as I'd just fi..."

I am very much looking forward to seeing what the movie adapters do with Mockingjay, after reading and loving Catching Fire, and the amazing job they did there! :-)

The first thing they are doing to it is making it into Mockingjay: Part One and Mockingjay: Part Two! I must admit I have only read the first book (I do intent to read the rest), so I cannot tell if there is heaps that happens in this book to warrant two movies, or if they're just milking the cash cow for all it's worth?