Book: 23 Sweet FAs - round the world with a football table

Summary: A student joke became reality when Andy Sloan embarked with his football table on a footballing odyssey which would see him shaking hands with Sven, playing table football with the Iranian national team and sitting down for the World Cup final with footballing legend Pele. Having drawn a route on a world map and written to the Football Associations of the 23 countries through which the line of travel passed, Andy set out with the intention of getting the table onto the pitches of the great stadiums of each country and interacting with the local people through the common currency of football. 23 Sweet Fa's records Andy's adventure through Europe, Russia, Iran, India, the Himalayas and the Far East. He encountered a warm welcome from the president of FIFA, witnessed the titanic clash of Iran v Iraq, took tea in the home of the Dalai Lama, survived tragedy on Mount Everest and celebrated triumph in Japan.

What I thought: Good book. Funny in some parts but slow in others.  A trip like that would have been such an amazingly awesome experience!

Book: Brumby's Run

Summary: A blissful carefree summer beckons for Samantha Carmichael. But her world is turned on its head when she learns she's adopted – and that she has a twin sister, Charlie, who is critically ill.  While Charlie recovers in hospital, Sam offers to look after Brumby's Run, her sister's home high in the Victorian Alps. Within days city girl Sam finds herself breaking brumbies and running cattle with the help of handsome neighbour Drew Chandler, her sister's erstwhile boyfriend.  A daunting challenge soon becomes a wholehearted tree change as Sam begins to fall in love with Brumby's Run – and with Drew. But what will happen when Charlie comes back to claim what is rightfully hers?

What I thought: Hooked from page one. I LOVED this book. Devoured it in a couple of days. Can't wait for her to release more! Just so excited about all the fabulous rural romances that are hitting the shelves.

Book: A Changing Land

Summary: It's the early 1900s and Hamish Gordon has a massive rural holding, Wangallon, built on stock theft. Embarking on a ruthless plan to buy out his neighbours, Hamish's actions test the loyalties of his family and will have serious repercussions for generations to come.
In the late 1980s, Sarah Gordon now runs Wangallon with her fiancé, Anthony. Their relationship begins to deteriorate when a power struggle develops between them and escalates with the arrival of Sarah's Scottish half-brother, Jim Macken, who is intent on receiving his inheritance ...

Unable to buy Jim out and with the possibility of losing part of Wangallon, Sarah finds herself fighting the law, her half-brother and Anthony. Will she jeopardise her own happiness to keep the Gordon legacy alive?

What I thought: I did enjoy this sequel to the Bark Cutter's but I'm not a huge fan of the going back and forth between characters in two different eras.  The author writes incredibly well, though maybe too well, for the rural escapism I am seeking.

Monday & Tuesday Night Bookgroup: Unless

Summary: Reta Winters has many reasons to be happy: Her three almost grown daughters. Her twenty-year relationship with their father. Her work translating the larger-than-life French intellectual and feminist Danielle Westerman. Her modest success with a novel of her own, and the clamour of her American publisher for a sequel. Then in the spring of her forty-fourth year, all the quiet satisfactions of her well-lived life disappear in a moment: her eldest daughter Norah suddenly runs from the family and ends up mute and begging on a Toronto street corner, with a hand-lettered sign reading GOODNESS around her neck.


What I thought: Ugh. Very slow and boring and repetitive. This was this massive build up to the issue (which I didn't pick by the way) but really I wouldn't waste your time.

Monday Night Bookgroup: The Lieutenant

Summary: Daniel Rooke, soldier and astronomer, was always an outsider. As a young lieutenant of marines he arrives in New South Wales on the First Fleet in 1788, and sees his chance. He sets up his observatory away from the main camp, and begins the scientific work that he hopes will make him famous. Aboriginal people soon start to visit his isolated promontory, and a child named Tagaran begins to teach him her language. With meticulous care he records their conversations.An extraordinary friendship forms, and Rooke has almost forgotten he is a soldier when a man is fatally wounded in the infant colony. The lieutenant faces a decision that will define not only who he is but the course of his entire life.

What I thought: I did enjoy this but not as much as The Secret River. I thought it was a bit slower. Still good though.

September Stamp Club

This is what we made last week at Stamp Club. An ornament for my Christmas Tree. I just love it! Plus I learnt how to use a glue gun too :)

Scrapping in Melbourne

When I headed down to Melbourne for Paperific I stayed over at Tania's place with the gorgeous girls from Tassie so we could get creating. I worked on a few different things but mainly my album for Luke from when he was a newborn to one. Here are some dodgy photos of what I did:

UB Technology Park Breakfast : Ballarat Cancer Research Centre

Back in August I headed out (early) to UB Technology Park to hear George Kannourakis speak about the current research happenings at the Ballarat Cancer Research Centre.

It was great to go for a few reasons. Firstly I got to meet George face-to-face. This was nice because I am on our HREC at work and we review all of the Ballarat Cancer Centre documents. So putting a face to a name was great. Secondly I got to hear about this magnificent resource in the heart of Ballarat. So inspiring. The history of the Centre is amazing and the current work is potentially life changing.  Just a fabulous talk :)

CHC in Melbourne

Back in August I headed down to the new Royal Children's Hospital for a meeting with other librarian's about the Clinician's Helath Channel. It was lovely to catch up with folk as I rarely get down for events.

The best thing to come out of the meeting (apart from seeing the new hospital and the meerkats) was that Ebsco got another year's extension on the CHC contract so in the interim nothing will change. I don't mind chnage but at the minute I seem to have enough to cope with already!

Paperific

I headed to Paperific last month for a day with the lovely Tania, Rebecca and Sue. What fun! The above are the cards I made in the make and takes. I love them all. And though I bought a few goodies on the day I didn't blow the budget :) 

August Stamp Club

This is a gorgeous card we made last month at Stamp Club. I just love the outside of the card (top) with it's little ribbon and then it opens up to this gorgeous colorful card. Love!

Monday Night Bookgroup: Belonging - a Memoir

Summary: Belonging tells the extremely moving autobiography by Renée Goossens. It’s a gripping story of a child who later, as a young woman struggled to find a life and identity of her own. The father she adored, who instilled her with a great love of music, became a legendary figure in Australia’s cultural life. Sir Eugene Goossens was the Chief Conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and Director of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. His influence led to the construction of one of Australia’s most treasured icons – the Sydney Opera House.  At 21, a serious motor vehicle accident kept Renée in hospital in Oxford for nearly two years, depriving her of her husband and baby. Sir Eugene Goossens died when she was in hospital and she only heard the devastating news through radio earphones whilst in intensive care. When Renée was finally able to leave hospital, her life changed forever but she managed to fulfill her dream of learning to walk again and bringing her son to Sydney.

What I thought: This book was OK. I had absolutely no idea who any of the Goossens were though. But overall a good story.

Book: Holy Cow

Summary: After backpacking her way around India Sarah Macdonald decides she hates the country with a passion. When a beggar reads her palm and insists she will one day return - and for love - she screams 'Never!'  But twelve years later the prophecy comes true. When the love of her life is posted to India, Sarah follows him to the most polluted city on earth, New Delhi. It seems like the ultimate sacrifice for love and it almost kills her - literally. After being cursed by a naked sadhu smeared in human ashes Sarah almost dies from double pneumonia, but not before facing some serious questions about her fragile mortality and inner spiritual void - not to mention some unsightly hair loss.  It's enough to send a rapidly balding atheist on a wild rollercoaster ride through India in search of the meaning of life and death. With the help of the Dalai Lama, a goddess of healing hugs and a couple of Bollywood stars - among many, many others - Sarah discovers a hell of a lot more.

What I thought: I really enjoyed this. Just the sights and smells of India intrigue me. But most of all I was fascinated by all the different religious aspects she explores in her time there. It would have been one amazing journey.

Tuesday night bookgroup: A Year by the Sea

Summary: Life is a work in progress, as ever-changing as a sandy shoreline along the beach. During the years Joan Anderson was a loving wife and supportive mother, she had slowly and unconsciously replaced her own dreams with the needs of her family. With her sons grown, however, she realized that the family no longer centered on the home she provided, and her relationship with her husband had become stagnant. Like many women in her situation, Joan realized that she had neglected to nurture herself and, worse, to envision fulfilling goals for her future. As her husband received a wonderful job opportunity out-of-state, it seemed that the best part of her own life was finished. Shocking both of them, she refused to follow him to his new job and decided to retreat to a family cottage on Cape Cod.  At first casting about for direction, Joan soon began to take plea-sure in her surroundings and call on resources she didn't realize she had. Over the course of a year, she gradually discovered that her life as an "unfinished woman" was full of possibilities.

What I thought: This book was OK. I suppose I am at such a different stage in my life to the author that I didn't connect with it as well as others may have.

I won a book... Part 2

I won another book care of Cathryn Hein's blog.  So very excited that I get another great rural romance to devour. This time it is Zoe's Muster by Barbara Hannay. It arrived a few weeks ago but I am yet to start it. I am saying it for after Uni where I can devour it!  So this time the question was as follows:

All you have to do is reveal your favourite TV cooking program or what you’d most like to grow yourself and you could win!

My answer: What I would most like to grow is some scrumptious summer tropical fruit. Living in a cold and frosty part of Australia means that we are limited by what we can grow. I’d love to be able to have an orchard full of mangos, pineapple, bananas and passionfruit. The taste and smells of these in summer are just divine. At least the fruit shop in town stocks everything :)

So simple hey!