a year in books

When I decided to list the books I read this year, I didn't give much thought to two things:

1. that I'm starting in FEBRUARY and I read stacks over the Christmas holidays and now I can't remember them all.

2. the book list would very quickly take over my whole sidebar.

SO -- a quick second thought has me maybe creating a page that holds all the books for the year, and a sidebar gadget that has the books for the month. Hopefully that will keep my blog looking reasonably tidy. Unlike my bedside table which has towering piles of books all over it, that threaten to fall on me in the night.

I'm also planning to link each book to either a review or a bookstore, just in case anyone thinks they might like to track the book down for themselves. Because, you know, I'm narcissistic enough to believe that the entire world would like to read the books I like.

I really love to read (can you tell?) and my tastes are (fairly) wide-ranging. In the last month or so, for example, I've read John Howards' bio (very good), a fascinating account of an Aussie doctor living in Ethiopia who set up a fistula hospital (awe-inspiring), and a book by Amy Tan which I'm devouring in huge gulps (more about that later); plus a Spanish cookbook (with pictures of delicately arranged morsels surrounded by an artistic dribble of sauce that takes 3 seconds to eat after hours of preparation) and a book on Australian Country Houses which actually turned out to look JUST like suburban kit homes with a few trees around. (Disappointing). Oh and some of the Harry Potters (love them!)

Also -- I've realised that while I loved Chocolat, I'm not so into Joanne Harris that I want to keep the two books I have of hers -- Five Quarters of the Orange, and Coastliners. They're good -- they're just not ones I'd like to keep. So I'm giving them away, and if you'd like them, mention so in your comment (ha! did you see my sneaky attempt to garner more comments? clever eh?) If there's more than one taker, I'll do a random draw. NOTE they are SECONDHAND BOOKS, not new copies. (and the covers will differ from the ones displayed in the links)
But hey, they're free! I call that a bargain.

just too fast

I'm SO annoyed with myself today.

Had to take Mr 17 to work this morning, and it's a godawful time of the day. He starts at 8, which means getting the other two ready for school is just that little bit more complicated. It chews about half an hour out of the morning and the littlies are crabby and Mr 17 is crabby so it's just not a great start to the day.

And to make things worse, we have to go past the high school which has a 40 limit BUT also has a large intersection with traffic lights in the middle of the zone and that's where the problem lies. You sit at the lights for so long and your brain is going at 90 trying to sort out the stuff you have to do and it's VERY easy to forget the 40 limit because there's no signage to remind you at the lights.
So normally I'm pretty careful because hey, I have kids too and I fully support school speed limits but of course today I was distracted and I took off from the lights too fast and YEP, got zapped by Mr Policeman with his radar gun. And I'm sure I was over the 40. Just, but over.

DAMN IT!

I'm 46 this year and I've NEVER had a speeding fine. My husbands' had LOTS and I used to feel all smug when he got a new one and now I've lost the right to smirk.

But you know the most annoying thing? this all happened at 7:45. I've been doing that run for ages and I've never once seen a kid waiting at that intersection at that time. They're not ALLOWED to be at school before 8:30. Why is the limit in place from 7:30 in the damn morning? on the highway? What's wrong with 8 o'clock???

and Fabio? you're allowed to laugh. I deserve it.

the sunglasses trap

It seems my face is crooked.

Not so much that if you met me for the first time, you'd be startled by the slippage, but enough that every damn pair of sunglasses I've ever owned sits funny on my face.

Usually they just sit lop-sided, which isn't SO bad in the scheme of things -- but this latest pair isn't content with something as boring as looking crooked.
Instead, every time I raise my eyebrows, they trap the left one. And then I have to 'shrug' it off the top of the frame.

Seriously. Problems of the first world, hey?

Yasi the home wrecker

I'm still trying to get my head round this. And I wasn't even IN it.

Paradise lost. This was all rainforest.

This is my sister Ks' house.

Looking up under the eaves and you can see how much the house moved. It'll have to be knocked down.

The house over the road lost roof tiles, which smashed into my sisters' house, and caused all the damage.

See the hole in the wall? And smashed louvres? That's where roof tiles punched clean through, letting 280 kmph winds into the house.

Sheeting started blowing off the inner walls.

Can you see the flecks of shredded leaves on the kitchen walls? But note that the light-bulb is still in one piece. I reckon they should take that light-bulb with them everywhere they go, it's clearly pretty special.

Honest to God, my sisters' kitchen doesn't normally look like this. You could eat off her floors any other time.

My other sister, Mrs Practical, took down her truck with a generator, fuel, a gas bottle, food etc, as soon as she was able. She took home my mum, and loads and loads of wet washing. Because of course, all the sheets, towels, bedding and clothing were dripping wet with storm water, and no power to wash them and no sun (or clothes-line) to dry them.

K is OK. If they had been sleeping in their bed, her husband would have most likely been killed by those tiles punching through their bedroom wall, but they were instead huddled in the downstairs bathroom, for the 10 hours or so it took Yasi to pass.

I can't tell you how much this breaks my heart. I might live in WA now, but North Queensland is still home. I sob my heart out for hours on the plane everytime I have to leave. And something in me wants to be there now, helping to clean up and re-build.

the girl who....

Fabio and I squabbled over who got to read the Stieg Larsson novels first, and nearly broke an ankle rushing off to rent the first DVD. (The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo)
Last night we watched the second movie, The Girl Who Played With Fire. If you've enjoyed the books, trust me, the movies will not disappoint.

They're both quite confrontational in spots, especially some particularly disturbing scenes involving a couple of bad guys -- VERY BAD guys -- doing some pretty awful things to Lisbeth. If you've read the books, you'll remember what those involve.

I'm very impressed with the actors, the script, the pace of the films, and of course the gorgeous Swedish scenery as well. The only quibble I have is that the sub-titles in this second film are a bit hard to read at times, being in yellow against light coloured backgrounds, but the words stay up long enough for you to read them and the dialogue is fairly crisp to begin with, so it's not a major bother.

Word is that Hollywood is making its' own versions and Daniel Craig will be playing the Blomqvist role. Much as I like Daniel Craig, I'm disappointed by this announcement, and I don't know that I'll watch the American films. I'm totally over Hollywood versions of books, because they fiddle with them so much.
This isn't an American film. It's European. I can't see how Hollywood can improve on it, and I'm forced to conclude that they're simply cashing in on the popularity of the originals.

Anyway, if you've seen the flicks, or read the books, let me know what you think.

a typical day now I'm middle-aged

This is how my day manifests itself:

I decide to water my garden.
As I turn on the hose in the driveway, I look over at my car and decide it needs washing.
As I head towards the car, I notice mail in the letter-box.
I decide to go through the mail before I wash the car.

I put my car keys on the table, and decide to throw the junk mail in the recycling bin.
I realise that the kitchen bin needs emptying too, so I put the mail back on the table and take out the rubbish first.

But then I think, since I'm going to be going to the bin, I may as well empty the paper bin near my desk, so I go inside the house to my desk where I find the cup of coffee I'd been drinking.
COFFEE! I grab the cup, but the coffee is getting cold, and I decide to make another cup.
As I head toward the kitchen with the cold coffee, a vase of flowers on the bench catches my eye – the flowers need water.
I put the coffee on the bench and discover my reading glasses that I've been searching for all morning.
I decide I better put them back on my desk, but first I'm going to water the flowers.

I put the glasses back down on the bench, fill a container with water and suddenly spot the TV remote control. Someone left it on the kitchen table.
I realise that tonight when we go to watch TV, I'll be looking for the remote, but I won't remember that it's on the kitchen table, so I decide to put it back where it belongs, but first I'll water the flowers.

I pour some water in the flowers, but quite a bit of it spills on the floor.
So, I put the remote back on the table, get some towels and wipe up the spill.
Then, I head down the hall trying to remember what I was planning to do.

At the end of the day:

Ø The car isn't washed.
Ø The bin isn't emptied.
Ø There is a cold cup of coffee sitting on the bench.
Ø The flowers don't have enough water.
Ø The paper bin at my desk is overflowing.
Ø I can't find the remote.
Ø I can't find my glasses.
Ø And I don't remember what I did with the car keys.

Then, when I try to figure out why nothing got done today, I'm really baffled because I know I was busy all damn day, and I'm really tired.

I realise this is a serious problem, and I'll try to get some help for it, but first I'll just write up a blog post....

PS I'm cheating a little today. This came from an e-mail and I thought it was so funny, I wanted to share. Because I just KNOW some of my readers will relate!

thank you Twitter

First -- an update on the family.

My sister and mum in Mission Beach are OK. The house was badly damaged - tiles from a neighbours' roof damaged their cars and also took out windows, which let the wind into the house. The winds were so strong they tore sheeting off the inner walls, blew out the sliding doors and windows, and destroyed one outer wall to the house, so it's open to the elements now and there's a lot of damage to furniture etc. BUT they are alive and unhurt.
The rainforest they lived in is gone. Many other homes were destroyed around them.

All other family members are fine, with no damage to property although some trees are down around them and of course, they have no power, phone or internet.

*****

As you might imagine, I've been glued to my computer (mainly Twitter and Facebook) and ABC24 over the last 2 days.
(in fact I've been so involved in the cyclone that I was constantly surprised when I went outside my own home to blue skies and sunshine!)

It's hugely worrying to be so far away and not knowing what is happening to your family, and one of the big benefits of social media is that people were streaming webcams and posting updates constantly, from all around the affected area of Queensland. There were lots of good wishes and prayers being sent, lots of support, people volunteering information for worried rellies etc. Good to see.

I have seen complaints, however. Some jerks were complaining that the cyclone wasn't as exciting as they had hoped it would be. Yes, seriously!
And a lot of others complaining about the media overkill.

Well, from my point of view, I couldn't see or hear ENOUGH information. I knew I wouldn't be able to contact my sisters or mum for ages, and all I had was the media updates.

So I don't care if you thought the coverage was OTT, or boring.

I don't care if you don't like Kochie and think the reporters are vultures hovering around looking for corpses.
I don't care if you thought the Qld Gvt overstated the seriousness of this cyclone.
I don't care and neither do the rest of all those Australians who had loved ones in danger last night.

And when the pictures and stories start appearing, I hope you feel ashamed of your shallowness.

updates from the Book (updated!)

These are from Facebook yesterday and last night. My family and friends are getting ready for a belting from Yasi.

from my brother M:
* Generator's had a run, Got bread, milk and coffee, Filled the gas bottle, everything is tied down, Trigger (the Wonder Dog) is holding the couch down. We're ready!!
* me - Is trigger still keeping that couch safe?
M - No.. He must reckon the lino in front of the fan is more likely to go :)
me - LMAO! Good boy Trigger. Don't forget to lay on Grandad if he looks like floating away.

* M - Well the houses, both next door and across the road, Will be safe. They have been driving nails in for the last 3 days, and still hammering away!!
me - maybe they're building an ark. You should see if they have any spare room.
M - We will take the tinny. I'm not getting on an ark with two tiapans!!
Cousin J - At least they are using nails, not like my neighbours. Swampies is a termite nest and the other house is made out of the stuff for fridges. and there is not a nail or screw in it. It is just a big jigsaw puzzle. It will be interesting to see how it holds up.
me - You might end up with most of it on the patio, J.
J - well if i ever want to build a fridge i will have the bits all ready to go.

* M - Still atm. Like nothings happening.
me - How's Dad? puffing on those cigarettes I bet.
M - He's pretty cool for now. Been a bit ... funny... today, but I think he's just settled down to wait now. Done all we can.
me - I expect he's scared but doesn't want to say so. K said he's been nailing down everything in the yard.
(apparently Dad was driving nails into , or tying down everything in sight)
M - Just stabbed himself in the bum. Had a screwdriver in his pocket from tightning something up!!!!

* M - (this morning) Man... You should hear how many hammers are doing overtime this morning... its freaky!!!

* M - Well thats about 300 million nails in the house next door!!!!!!!!! Its getting bloody annoying!!

* sister K -- wonder how long the house next door will last?

M -- Forever. It's got 300 million new nails in it.

from my sister S:
* So, BOM tracking site looks like Yasi will hit mission beach and then straight over the top of Atherton. I'm off to get supplies, mainly coffee.

* i bought a lotto ticket as well. may as well

* You know someone should invent a battery operated kettle............

From my cousin J:
* J - no genny! :(
brother M - Start making ice for the esky while you have power!!!
me - good thinking
M - If you make a kite and tie a key to it, on a long piece of copper wire....
me - you try it first, and let us know how you get on.

I love these people. God, please let them all survive.

all kinds of bad

Looks like my mum and my sister & BIL, my other sister and BIL, my dad and my two brothers will all cop a direct hit from TC Yasi, in that order.
Mum and Baby Sister live right on the coast, so we don't know if they'll be evacuated yet. We hope so.
Middle Sister lives up on the Tablelands, and Dad and brothers live higher again. They all survived Larry without a scratch, but MS says it was the most terrifying thing she'd ever experienced. And Yasi is expected to be worse. They're calling it a life-threatening event.

For those of you who only saw photos of suburban damage, Larry left the countryside looking like a giant whipper-snipper had been through. Trees were taken out in gigantic swathes. They weren't merely knocked over; they looked as if they'd exploded.
There were no leaves to be seen on them, they'd been completely stripped. And the leaves themselves were shredded. Like confetti. Can you imagine the power of winds like that?

However, surviving the cyclone is not the end of it.
TC Tasha hit on Christmas Day, and they were all without fresh food supplies till after the Brisbane floods started to subside.
When I say "fresh food supplies" I don't mean they couldn't get lettuce. I mean, the supermarkets were not re-stocked because the roads were closed. From Christmas Day on.
There was no milk (even though it's a dairying region. Because the Qld Gvt decided years ago that it would be illegal to sell milk that hasn't been processed. Which is all done Down South. So dairy farmers were pouring their milk down the drain, while the shops had none.)
There was no bread. No meat. Some fruit and veg, whatever had survived the water anyway. No tinned goods. No nappies. No coffee.
NO COFFEE!
No power, or phone, no internet access for days. They relied on other people to txt them and let them know what was happening, or listened out on the radio for news.

I know that the loss of life in Sth Qld was beyond bad. No-one in NQ died in Tasha. There was no devastating flash flooding. But it was still bad, and largely ignored by the media. They aren't getting any money from the mud tax. Many of them will still be required to pay the tax.
It drives me mad that our politicians are so city-centric. They forget, a state doesn't end when you drive out of the city limits.

Anyway, I've spoken to one sister this morning, and have to ring my mum. Going to try and talk her into heading inland. I'd rather they lost their house than their lives.