Breath

Tim Winton

Hamish Hamilton (Penguin Books) Austrlia. 2008

Well, who knew where that was going? It (and i won't ruin it for anyone) is pretty tough subject matter to make believable / palatable. Poetic prose, as you would expect from Tim Winton.

I had a premonition about drugs from the magically appearing surfboards and the absence of work in Sando and Eva's life. 

Interesting use of retrospect. The man tells about his adolescence with some hindsight. The interior of the book is his youth and the grown up sections at the beginning and end are like book ends. I almost forgot his paramedic character when I was with Pikelet.

The theme  - the courting of danger and the need for increased risk - was thoroughly explored. 

Eva was my least favourite character. I'm still not so sure she was believable.  The reader only gets to know her as a love interest. 

i like it... just need to wash my tongue a little bit....

pickled ginger

birthday radishes

A birthday celebration in the park. champagne, sausages at 10 am. Most pleasing - home grown radishes.

A sunday in the country

The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies

Beatrix Potter. 1909. Frederick Warne

We love this book. It's perfect for children without being too simple. There is drama, adventure and proper characters. The illustrations are beautiful and the size is just right for little hands to hold. 

What a great start to the story:

It is said that the effect of eating too much lettuce is "soporific".

I have never felt sleepy after eating lettuces; but then I am not a rabbit.

p7

..some of the girls at school put lipstick, quite thick lipstick...

overheard in a train during school holidays

The Man Whose Mother was a Pirate

Margaret Mahy, Illustrated by Margaret Chamberlain. 1985 Puffin Books.

There are a lot of saintly mothers in children's books and every now and again it makes a lovely change to read about a mother who is a pirate, as in this book. A fulsome, jolly, gold wearing colourful pirate who glows in the city setting. Her son is a brown suited accountant, of course. The mother tells him that they must go to the sea, even though they must travel with just a wheelbarrow and a kite. The image is when they have arrived and are frolicking in the sounds, smells and taste of the sea. Great for planning a beach holiday and for your own inner pirate. Aye aye!