Wellington Reads discussion

Kia ora koutou! What's everyone reading this August?

I've just finished The Miniaturist - I really enjoyed it and found it to be a real page-turner. I found some of the storylines to be a bit disappointing in the end, and The Miniaturist doesn't play as big a role as I had expected, but I loved it nonetheless.

I've just started Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore at Chloe's suggestion - am only a couple of chapters in but really enjoying it. It's about a bookstore that seems to have some mysterious secrets... intriguing!!

I'm reading The God of Small Things as part of a modern classic group read for another group. I'm enjoying it so far.

Erica wrote: "I'm reading The God of Small Things as part of a modern classic group read for another group. I'm enjoying it so far."

I loved The God of Small Things when I read it - lucky really, because I was purely attracted by the beautiful cover! "Judging a book by its cover" definitely worked out well for me that time.

I'm reading We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler. Fantastic so far!

I'm loving The Golden Notebook. Can't say I've read many books from that time (set in the 1950s) so I'm enjoying filling in some gaps. There's a lot in it about the English communist movement, and about relationships between men and women. Really interesting and moreish.

I've just finished The God of Small Things. I thought it was very well-written. Quite a complex style with many different time periods melted together but done so clearly and seamlessly. I can see why it's a modern classic and won the 1997 Booker Prize. Next up on my to-read list for August is The Garden of Evening Mists which was recommended to me as part of a recommendation swap in another group. Then Wulf which I've been trying to pin down at the library for ages.

Dirty Politics

Juston wrote: "Dirty Politics"

me too :)

Be interested to know what your thoughts are about the book Ali!

Oh I'd like to know if you guys think it's worth reading.

Depends as it's definitely a polarising read.

If you tend towards the right of the political, social and economic spectrum then you'll likely find it nothing more than hearsay and a strategically timed smear campaign.

Conversely if you tend to the left then it will just reaffirm your convictions. However if you're an undecided then you may find it very interesting.

It's certainly an eye opener and I'm only a couple of chapters in.

It's definitely worth a read!

Erica wrote: "Oh I'd like to know if you guys think it's worth reading."
Hi Erica. Yes do have a read - it's pretty eye-opening and I think Hager is on the level. The cynicism is striking and Slater's revealed to be quite petty and unscrupulous.
Also it's a short book - worth it to get what everyone's talking about :)

I've been reading Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn. It's about an isolated, technologically backward society who worship the creator of the sentence "the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" for his literary genius. They have a monument to him - Nevin Nollop - on their island, also called Nollop, but the lettered tiles spelling out the phrase begin to fall off the monument. The island council then decides that the falling tiles are a message from Nollop himself and they make the use of the fallen letters illegal.

The whole story is told in epistolary form so you get to see how the letter-writers have to cope with the new rules of language. At the point I'm at, they are now trying to spell things out in very strange phonetic ways with the letters they have left available to them.

I haven't quite finished it yet, but I would highly recommend it to anyone who loves language! And particularly to anyone who likes word games and challenges :-)

Rachel wrote: "I've been reading Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn. It's about an isolated, technologically backward society who worship the creator of the sentence "the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" for hi..."
Sounds fun Rachel, I added it to my list. (Silly thing gets longer quicker than I can read though, a common problem I'm sure!)

Just finished Dirty Politics. The book is great, short and easy to read.

Leave you feeling sick about NZ's political centre right and it's stealth shift to hard right and feeling sick about the state of NZ media.