Glorious Books...

This year, again I took the challenge to get to 50 books in 2010. I did better than last year (I think it was the grand total of 39 books in '09) and reached 44 books.

Many types of books, many memorable and a couple to forget! I always have to finish a book though no matter what it is like. I love to read. I could easily cuddle up in bed, or flop on the sofa and spend the entire day lost in a good book. However my wonderful life gets in the way of this pipe dream and I snatch time here and there when I can.

A few of my favourites this year;

The Five people You Meet in Heaven - Mitch Albom

Fall of Giants - Ken Follett

The Alchemist - Paul Coelho

The Memory Keepers Daughter - Kim Edwards

My all out favourite, without a doubt was Miracle in the Andes - Nando Parrado with Vince Rause. I did a post on it here

This is my entire list for 2010

44. Homecoming - Cathy Kelly
43. My Story - Dannii Minogue
42. The Notebook - Nicholas Sparks
41. Knit The Season - Kate Jacobs
40. Will Mammy Be Coming Back For Me? - Shane Dunphy
39. Beneath the Shadows - Sarah Foster
38. Breaking Dawn - Stehpanie Meyers
37. The Accidental Billionaires - Ben Mezrich
36. Fall of Giants - Ken Follett
35. Precious - Sapphire
34. Eclipse - Stephanie Meyers
33. New Moon - Stephanie Meyers
32. Twilight - Stephanie Meyers
31. The Alchemist - Paul Coelho
30. Major Pettigres Last Stand - Helen Simonson
29. Hell on the Way to Heaven - Chrissie Foster with Paul Kennedy
28. The Memory Keepers Daughter - Kim Edwards
27. Behaving Badly - Isabel Wolff
26. The Slap - Christos Tsiolkas
25. The Two of Me - Andrew Johns
24. The Lost Symbol - Dan Brown
23. Only Spring - Gordon Livingston MD
22. The Water Horse - Julia Gregson
21. Olivia - Tim Ewbank
20. Smokey Joe's Cafe - Bryce Courtney
19. The Lilac Bus - Maeve Binchy
18. Her Fearful Symmetry - Audrey Niffennegger
17. Burning Bright - Tracey Chevalier
16. The Winding Ways Quilt - Jennifer Chiaverini
15. Circle of Quilters - Jennifer Chiaverini
14. The Master Quilter - Jennifer Chiaverini
13. The Quilters Legacy - Jennifer Chiaverini
12. Miracle in the Andes - Nando Parrado with Vince Rause
11. The Quilters Kitchen - Jennifer Chiaverini
10. The Sugar Camp Quilt - Jennifer Chiaverini
9. Matter of Trust - Sydney Bauer
8. Duet - Kimberley Freeman
7. The Runaway Quilt - Jennifer Chiaverini
6. The Other Side of the Story - Marian Keyes
5. Eat Clean for Kids and The Family - Tosca Reno
4. Eat Clean Recharged - Tosca Reno
3. The Stories of My Life - Ray Martin
2. The Five people You Meet in Heaven - Mitch Albom
1. Cross Country Quilters - Jennifer Chiaverini

I am definitely up for the challenge again 2011, and will give it a whirl to see how I go. I suspect that I won't achieve 50 books due to house renos but let's just wait and see.

Happy New Year to you!

Merry Christmas Everyone...

The weather is freakishly cold and snowy in Dublin, and whilst we are looking forward to getting home and soaking up some sun, we are still having a fun time!

There was a visit to Santa's Cottage up in the north - a wonderful experience for us all, but the kids especially loved it!

There has been a few trips into Dublin city to meet up with Zoe's school friend and her family, who is also visiting Ireland. Dave and I also had a couple of nights in town together..and we took the girls to go into the National Leprechaun Museum and to see the Christmas windows and lights.
Of course there was the whole reason we came to Ireland at this time of year. The wedding of my brother in law John to his gorgeous fiance Sinead. A spray tan, central heating and a short one shouldered dress almost lulled me ito a false sense of security that it wasn't actually sub zero temperatures..that was until we went out into the snow for the official family photos....
Of course there have been lots of cups of tea and red wines with friends and family. To keep me sane I have read 5 books, worked on my Pies and Tarts blocks and been going to the gym a few times a week.
I was also delighted to find a Little People Nativity Set, and the girls have had a great time re-enacting Jesus' birth.
I got the best early Christmas present ever - we are the proud owners of a black AGA cooker that is ordered and will be shipped to Sydney. To buy in Sydney it was way out of the budget but with the exchange rate the way it is it was nearly half the price, even paying shipping costs and duties. I can not wait for my new kitchen!!!

Now we have Christmas day to look forward to, and Zoe's 6th birthday on New Years Eve and then a couple of days later we wil fly out to go home.

I'd like to wish you and yours peace and love this Christmas, enjoy your day and may Santa bring all your dreams true. MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Just finished...

850 pages...

...later and this morning I finished reading Ken Follett's latest book "Fall of Giants". I am always so disappointed when I finish one of Mr Follett's stories! I just want them to go on forever to see happens in the lives of the characters! This is the first book of a trilogy with the next one due out in 2012 then the 3rd due out in 2014. Oh No!!!

As a hard cover with 850 pages, it wasn't the most comfy book to curl up on the lounge with, but the fabulous story line made it all worth it.

Sadly I don't think I will achieve "50 books in 2010" now though. But with a 24 hour plane trip coming up plus 5 weeks in Dublin where the weather won't be condusive to spending much time outdoors - you never know what could be achieved!

From Ken Follett's website

Fall of Giants
Published worldwide on 28 September 2010, and debuted at #1 on The New York Times' hardcover fiction bestseller list!

Fall of Giants is a magnificent new historical epic. The first novel in the Century trilogy, it follows the fates of five interrelated families – American, German, Russian, English and Welsh – as they move through the world-shaking dramas of the First World War, the Russian Revolution, and the struggle for women’s suffrage.

Thirteen-year-old Billy Williams enters a man’s world in the Welsh mining pits…Gus Dewar, an American law student rejected in love, finds a surprising new career in Woodrow Wilson’s White House…two orphaned Russian brothers, Grigori and Lev Peshkov, embark on radically different paths half a world apart when their plan to emigrate to America falls afoul of war, conscription and revolution…Billy’s sister, Ethel, a housekeeper for the aristocratic Fitzherberts, takes a fateful step above her station, while Lady Maud Fitzherbert herself crosses deep into forbidden territory when she falls in love with Walter von Ulrich, a spy at the German Embassy in London….

These characters and many others find their lives inextricably entangled as, in a saga of unfolding drama and intriguing complexity, Fall of Giants moves seamlessly from Washington to St. Petersburg, from the dirt and danger of a coal mine to the glittering chandeliers of a palace, from the corridors of power to the bedrooms of the mighty.

As always with Ken, the historical background is brilliantly researched and rendered, the action fast-moving, the characters rich in nuance and emotion. It is destined to be a new classic.

In future volumes of the Century trilogy, subsequent generations of the same families will travel through the great events of the rest of the twentieth century, changing themselves – and the century itself. With passion and the hand of a master, Ken brings us into a world we thought we knew, but now will never seem the same again.

Where do the days go?

Time seems to be so short at the moment. I struggle to get through my to do list on a daily basis. Maybe my expectations are too high, maybe I am trying to achieve too much? I don't know but I am feeling more and more frustrated on a daily basis!

To ensure my sanity, I have snatched time here and there for reading my enormous 700 and something page book and I am loving it, I baked gingerbread with the big kid (albeit from a box but at this time my mantra seems to be "something is better than nothing") and I have also had some quiet moments to do some hand stitching on Jack's quilt. I was hoping to have it finished by the time we went away but with 24 days to go and knowing all I have to achieve in this time I just don't think it will happen!!!

With everything that is going on and stress being caused from outside my immediate family unit, my husband and my children have offered me the hope that I need at the moment. Their smiles, their cuddles and their love lift me up and they bring me so much joy and sunshine through the clouds. We are all creators of our own destiny, we design our lives through the desicions and the choices that we make. I wish that everyone could have this realisation and that they could see that life is really quite simple, it is ourselves that make it hard if we so choose!

Can't Wait to Read My New Purchase...

but I think it will determine that I definitely won't get to 50 books in 2010!

Books! Glorious Books!

I finished Major Pettigrews Last Stand whilst way, and really enjoyed it.

I also started and finished "The Alchemist" by Paul Coelho.. An easy read with lots of great life messages, more specifically about following your life dreams.



And I jumped on the Twilight bandwagon, albeit months - possibly years - after everyone else, and finished that too...and suprisingly I really loved it and have just started New Moon.



I even got to read a couple of trashy mags whilst we were away - New Idea, Who and Womens Weekly.

Ah, the joys of holidays!!

My sister has an electronic book, of the Sony kind. We bought one for my dad for Fathers Day. Moving with the times and all that I know I should take an interest in these things. I mean lets face it, by the time my girls are in Uni (should they choose that path), maybe even high school, potentially their study books etc will be all downloadable onto one of these devices. I know I know, it is so much easier for their backs to carry a little tiny thing around rather than a whole load of ridiculously heavy books BUT!!! And to me it is a big BUT!!! I hope that the good old trusty paper back (or hard back if you so please) has it's place forever. Nothing beats the musty old smell of a library book. Nothing beats the flick of pages. Perusing the front and back covers of a back, wondering if it worth reading. Flopping down on the couch (or the pool bed if you are lucky enough to be in Fiji or somewhere lovely) opening the book, pulling out the book mark, flicking the pages and eventually the last turn of the final page... The touch, the texture, the sight, the smell of a real book - this is what will more than likely keep me forever away from all these new fandangle e-books. Sorry to say but they just ain't for me!

Reading...

I have powered through my last few books, unable to put them down as they made for great or compelling reading...

Today whilst the sick one snuggled and slept on me I began this. It is such a pretty book to look at and after a few hours reading today, I am thoroughly enjoying it..

I'm Reading...

Tragic I know but I just can't turn down an autobiography, about anyone!!!

Just Finished...

What's Happening in My World?

A life changing read, a remarkable story of courage and adversity

Back in February, Dave headed off to San Diego for a conference. This is not unusual...our family regularly farewells him off to a fabulous destination, usually for him to stay in a fabulous hotel and see not alot of the great city or place he is in, but to network, mingle, usually drink a fair amount ~;)~ and learn about his industry. The conversations upon his return about the trip are more often than not quite similar. However this conference has left a profound mark in his heart. The key note speaker was Nando Parrado, the incredible man who walked out of the Andes after 72 days in the mountains after a plane he was travelling in crashed. According to Dave, my man who is nicknamed "the machine" for his lack of showing emotion, there was not a dry eye in the room as Nando told his story, this included Dave. At the end of the presentation, everyone was given Nando's book "Miracle in the Andes". What a story, what a read. It truly is a remarkable story and hits home on the way we should be living our lives. It has made me want to dig deeper into myself, strengthen my relationships and bonds with those who matter most to me, I want to learn to love more and better, to see and understand more about life and what is truly important. A wonderful read and the best I have had in a long time! It comes highly recommended, by me!



The following is taken from Nando's website, here.

In October 1972, a plane carrying an Uruguayan rugby team crashed in the Andes. Not immediately rescued, the survivors turned to cannibalism to survive and after 72 days were saved. Rugby team member Parrado has written a beautiful story of friendship, tragedy and perseverance. High in the Andes, with a fractured skull, eating the flesh of his teammates and friends, Parrado calmly ponders the cruelties of fate, the power of the natural world and the possibility of continued existence. "I would live from moment to moment and from breath to breath, until I had used up all the life I had." Parrado, who for the past 10 years has been giving inspirational talks based on his experiences, lost his mother and sister in the crash. Struggling to stay alive, his guide becomes his beloved father: "each [stride] brought me closer to my father... each step I took was a step stolen back from death." More than a companion to the 1970s bestselling chronicle of the disaster, Alive, this is a fresh, gripping page-turner that will satisfy adventure readers, and a complex reflection on camaraderie, family and love.

How the Experience Affected Me - Nando Parrado
Time, a very good healer, has a put a veil over my worst memories and sorrows. I now remember the most awful parts of our ordeal almost as though I had read about them in a book.
But when I first returned I realized that the Andes had affected me more than I thought. I saw there was no way to pretend it had not happened, and I tried to learn from the experience. This changed my life dramatically.

My familiy life was destroyed when my mother and sister died in the accident. When I returned home, I had the strange experience of observing what would have happened if I actually had died. Arriving at my house almost three months after the crash, I found that my clothes had been given away, my room taken by my elder sister, who had moved in with her family, my posters and photographs had been removed from the walls, and my motorbike had been sold. There was no trace of me, except for some photograhps in the living room and in my father´s study.
A couple of days after my return, I went to the same pizza place that I used to frequent before the accident. All the young people were astonished to see me. They asked for autographs, and the owner did not charge me. I was the same person, but something had changed in the way everybody saw me.

Before the crash my mind was filled with my studies in business administration, but as soon as I came back I found that I had to exchange my studies for everyday work. Our family business organization had nearly been destroyed, since my mother had taken care of half the work. When you are young, you feel immortal. There is nothing that can modify or destroy you. Through our painful experience I learned that life is linked to death, that these are the only realities of our existence. You are born and you will die someday… In between, nobody knows. There are some things I have thought deeply about over the years, my thoughts influenced by the Andes experience. I am sure it is the same for the other survivors. These things are: FAMILY, CONFIDENCE and FRIENDSHIP.

All through the seventy-two days we spent in the mountains, there was absolutely nothing to which we could attach ourselves. Everything had lost its meaning. There was no future, no hope. Studies, work, material things: nothing had any value.


But omnipresent in everyone was the need of family affection. Our desire to feel secure in a family and our need to feel and give the love of a family were the only things that kept us going. So now, after having experienced a human situation where our limits of physical and mental suffering were constantly reached and even exceeded, I have come to understand that FAMILY is what made us survive.

Our lives honor this fact. I am extremely happy just to be able to put my daughters to bed every night. This realization has not taken away from my work or “success” in life. I am the CEO of six companies, but ther is no business meeting or commercial activity that I would not exchange for the moments of hapiness I have had with Veronique and my children.
I have learned that moments do not repeat themselves, but the next time I am dying I know what I will be remembering: my affections and love, not my businesses, cars, contracts, bank loans, earnings, faxes, airports…
Another thing I am certain was influenced by the Andes experience was my personal CONFIDENCE.
I have been able to make decisions quite easily in many aspects of life and work because of something that happened in the mountains.

When I was at the top of an 18.000-foot peak with Roberto Canessa, looking at the vast scenery of snowy peaks surrounding us, we knew we were going to die.

There was absolutely no way out.

We then decided how we would die: we would walk towards the sun and the west. It was better than freezing at the top. This decision took us scarcely thirty seconds. Other decision taken later in life seemed no more difficult than deciding about my own death.

I have gained confidence in myself, a quiet tranquility that has given me a better perception of the world around me. Making decisions became easier because I knew that the worst thing that could happen would be that I would be wrong. Compared to what I had gone through, that was nothing.

Finally there is the value of FRIENDSHIP, of our feeling of affection and love. It was deeply moving to see young boys helping their friends in ways they could not have imagined, even risking and giving their lives for each other. Frienship was a major factor in our chances to survive and, after we managed to rescue ourselves, we made our friendship with each other an important part of our lives. Sometimes I ask myself why people need to experience extreme situations to understand the real values of life. These values are so clear and so near us, yet we rush by them looking for the “important” things. The warmth of my daughters´s embrace at night when I put them to bed or the quiet presence of my wife, Veronique, near me - moments that will not be repeated-,these are the important, enduring values.