Monday 1 December 2014

It's Monday!

What am I reading?

A pinch and a punch for the first of the month!

I have several books to finish this week.

Adam Spencer's Big Book of Numbers (see previous Monday post for synopsis)
The Watch Tower by Elizabeth Harrower (see previous Monday for synopsis)
The 6 HSC poems of Robert Frost
and
Nine Open Arms by Benny Lindelauf


It is the summer of 1937, and it hasn't rained for seven weeks when eleven-year-old Fing 
and her family of nine move into Nine Open Arms, along with their handcart of meagre belongings. 
'The Dad' is a man who does all kinds of jobs and none of them well, while Oma Mei courageously holds everything together, including the family's history in her Crocodile bag full of pictures and stories. 
But as the year progresses, the family just gets poorer.

Meanwhile, Fing and her two sisters, wild Muulke and fearful Jess, begin to discover strange mysteries...until at last the story of those who came before begins slowly to emerge. In the end, Fing learns that love and stories are her

family's wealth.

Nine Open Arms is an exceptional imagined historical mystery - the story of a very special home, the eccentric families who have lived within it, and the unexpected ties that emerge between the two...

There have also been a flurry of new release picture books at work that I would like to start delving into.

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AusReading Month & Non-Fiction November are now over - which means it's time to start thinking about summer holiday reads.

Planning my summer holiday reading is a hangover from my teaching days when I enjoyed a lovely, long, program planning free 5 week holiday.

This year, I will have two weeks off work over the Christmas/New Year break.
Reading by the pool and on the beach calls for one type of book.
Lazy sultry afternoon dozes require another kind of book.
And the long, hot summer nights call for something else entirely!

I know that one of the books will be the new bio on Coco Chanel - I also have my Classic Club spin, Vile Bodies.

The Christmas tree went up last night, I'm half way through my Christmas shopping, Christmas lunch is booked, the North Coast beach apartment is paid in full...now I just have to make it through the pre-Christmas madness at work!

For more weekly round-ups check out Sheila's It's Monday! meme.

6 comments:

  1. Nine Open Arms sounds good. The Christmas tree at our house doesn't go up until the day after school finishes for the year, it gives the kids something to do :)


    Have a great reading week,
    Shelleyrae @ Book'd Out

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  2. Nine Open Arms does sound interesting... and I love your holiday reading idea!!! I only work part-time but am looking forward to time off work nonetheless!

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  3. Two weeks off at Christmas/New Year sounds wonderful, but it sounds strange to be planning summer reading for that time ;-)
    We will be going to Florida later in January, so I'll get a chance to plan some beach reading of my own then.

    We cut down our Christmas tree over the weekend. Will bring it inside and put the lights on it next weekend, but wait until all the girls are home for the ornaments. I've only started my shopping, so need to get busy!

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  4. You seem so prepared for Christmas! It's so nice to have a lot of extra time to read after the holidays. :)

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  5. Anonymous2/12/14

    I think Nine Open Arms would be a good one.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Nine Open Arms looks so good. I enjoy historical fiction and mystery and together it must make for a great read.

    ENJOY your reading week.

    Elizabeth
    Silver's Reviews
    My It's Monday, What Are You Reading

    ReplyDelete

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