Month: August 2020

The Sunday Post #9

I do believe that the proverbial cat that got the cream expression calls for no explanation today? My Mommy and I are still in awe about our gorgeous new template and all the added goodies. Do you like it? We love it! I believe it might be easier and rather quicker to just give a short summary about our updated template: When Blogger did their interface a couple of weeks ago, we managed to finally access a very old (2010 design, way older than me), but gorgeous template called Fluffy White Kitten. It couldn’t be more perfect. As you know, perfect are very often the stuff of nightmares. Nightmares: Comments (no reply function); share/follow/related posts (had to use plug-ins); upload images (what it looks like on the draft, the preview and actual post – all differed); due the lovely color theme (that is not available anymore….) all backgrounds had to be changed. All the time. Resulted in tears and frustration on Mommy’s side and me not entering the study at all. Mommy started looking for new templates, but oh where to begin. She only knew what she wanted. Have you seen Heather’s blog over at Random RedHead Ramblings? It’s sooo gorgeous. That’s […]

Posted August 30, 2020
33 Comments
Tudor Queens Book Tag

Tudor Queens Book Tag

I’m sooooo glad that I managed to convince my Mommy to start blogging again.  I am just as glad that I stared at her and tapped her ever so gently on the hand when she created Elza Reads. She really does need to learn to watch the cat from the tree (it’s an Afrikaans expression) before she leaps. And those alluring ducks, she needs to get them in a row. That’s why I am supervising the blog this time around. Cats are known for their patience and thoroughness. Okay, I’m rambling here. Thanks to me, Mommy has a blogroll and if I didn’t create that, she never would have stumbled on this amazing book tag! On our Wednesday Wisdom Meme a couple of weeks back, we told you about Mommy’s friend who inspired her to start reading voraciously again. The first books that Esther gave to her, were the Tudor Novels by Philippa Gregory. She devoured them all. So yes! This book tag will be great fun to do. It was originally hosted by Jess from Jessticulates and she would love a ping-back on this. Without any further ado, let’s introduce you to the Tudor Queens and their book companions: Elizabeth of York   Elizabeth of […]

Posted August 27, 2020
13 Comments

Wednesday Wisdom from The Stand

You know why I started blogging again? Okay, one of the reasons I started blogging again? I desperately wanted to talk to people about books and how some books can be relevant at a certain time and stage in human history, or just in your own life.  When Covid 19 hit the news in early January 2020, my first thought was, The Stand by Stephen King is happening…. If you’ve read this epic and classic novel – I’m sure you had the exact same thoughts.  The Stand was my first Stephen King and ever since I’ve first read it in 2014, I’ve read at least one Stephen King per year. Nope, not my favorite author of all time, but good grief – this man knows how to tell a story! And no better one than The Stand. So many quotes from that book also got stuck in my mind and as the current world events unfold, they keep on popping to the surface.  “No one can tell what goes on in between the person you were and the person you become. No one can chart the blue and lonely section of hell. There are no maps of the change. You just come […]

Posted August 26, 2020
10 Comments

The Sunday Post #8

 Greetings! My humans are busy preparing for a Sunday lunch. BECAUSE we are officially on Stage 2 of Lock Down regulations and they are legally allowed to have friends over and even consume alcohol. I know the friends who are coming over, so I know I need to intercept this post. They come for lunch, they leave at bedtime. Worst part of all, their one Golden Retriever passed away earlier this week and Mommy thought it very generous to tell them to bring their remaining Golden Retriever with to play with our dogs. That means, I will have to go into hiding for the rest of today.  Anyway, how was your week? I can’t even begin to describe our week to you! We went from the coldest weather recorded in 20 years, with snow and rain and wind that would have given my namesake a run for her money. To going out for a cold beer and taking the dogs to the beach in shorts and T-shirts.    You’ve gotta love Africa! No new books were acquired and nothing much happened on the blog either. It was really, really, cold people. The only thing to do was snuggle up and […]

Posted August 23, 2020
30 Comments
Weekend Book Friends #7

Weekend Book Friends #7

It’s finally the weekend. We’ve had the coldest temperatures recorded in our little town, in years. We even had snow! Yes, we were all snuggled in as much as possible. But let’st talk about that on Sunday. Today is Friday and we want to talk books and chat to our Friday Friends. I’ve had so much fun playing around with The Friday Face-off, that I’ve run out of time with the rest of the Friday posts. So I am not choosing a new book for today, I am going to stick with one that I’ve started last weekend. It’s a Middle Grade, time-travel story about a girl who sounds very much like a few people I know on the blogosphere: “What she treasures above all else are books and she is consumed by them, reading and collecting whatever she can to satisfy her voracious appetite for stories, facts and history”.     Jodie Broom, a 12-year-old girl (almost 13!), is like most girls her age. She loves her friends, music, and is always up for a good adventure. What she treasures above all else are books and she is consumed by them, reading and collecting whatever she can to satisfy […]

Posted August 21, 2020
25 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday – 10 books that should be adapted for Netflix

 ……and – Action! Welcome to another episode of Top Ten Tuesday! Today we will try our best to convince the Netflix creators / directors / writers / sponsors / producers, to bring 10 books we loved, alive on screen.  This was a great prompt, but strangely enough, not so easy to make a selection. I don’t watch all that much TV, but I do love a good adaptation.  My husband loves watching Jack Ryan and I can list quite a few movies/series adaptations that I loved! From Agatha Christie to Pretty Little Liars. I went through my Goodreads books and listed books that I thought would make great movies/series. And then I had to start scratching out… The Casual Vacancy;  The Nightingale; Where the Crawdads Sing; Devil at my heels (Unbroken); The woman in the window I was pleasantly surprised to see how many books have been adapted lately and how many are in production stages. Not to mention the older ones that I’ve somehow missed! Jippie Yea! I have some TV to look forward to. If they would only add the following books as well, the small screen will be ever so great:  1. Shelter in Place by Nora Roberts (TV series at least 20 episodes) Why? […]

Posted August 18, 2020
38 Comments

The Sunday Post #7

 Missed us? I am ever so sorry that we’ve missed The Sunday Post last week. Gosh, I hope it was only last week. It’s been a bit tough here with us and dreadfully cold and rainy lately. So what’s been happening? Two weeks ago, I told you that my big brother, Stinkie, has been a bit under the weather. Thankfully, my mommy took him to the doctor on the Monday morning, or he might have ended up 3 feet under the ground, and not just under the weather (I don’t think cats should need six feet. Then again, if Louis buried Church 6 feet under ground in Pet Sematary, he might have saved himself a bit of trouble). Poor Stinkie had Tick Bite Fever and he was really not well at all.  My mommy was very worried and if I had an ounce of evil in me, I would have rolled on the floor laughing a couple of times at her and daddy’s nursing skills. She left for school two days in a row, soaking wet. No really – SOAKING. Stinkie kept on sneaking out and she would charge after him. Please tell me you can see the picture. Oh and […]

Posted August 16, 2020
28 Comments

Die vrou in die blou mantel deur Deon Meyer

  Titel: Die Vrou in die blou mantel (Bennie Griesel #6) Skrywer: Deon Meyer Publikasie: 2017 Bladsye: 121 (novelle)Formaat: SagtebandGelees: 15 Augustus 2020My gradering:  Kort opsomming: Daar ver onder in die Kaapse nag steel iemand skilderye warop vroue in blou geklee is. En Kaptein Bennie Griesel droom van verloofringe, en sy kollega Vaughn Cupido bekommer oor sy commitment. En die private eye Billy de Palma, “narcissist, psycho, real arsehole”, is besig met sy gewone onheilighede. Maar hier bo in Sir Lowryspas lê ‘n vrou wat dit alles gaan verander. Sy is heeltemal kaal, uitgestrek by die groot uitkykpunt, haar kop na die noorde, haar voete na die suide. Iemand het haar liggaam mooi gerangskik en met bleikmiddel gewas om al die forensiese spore uit te vee. Weereens – Hoera, hoera, hoera! Lank lewe Deon Meyer! Ek is bietjie laat vir die partytjie van Die vrou in die blou mantel, en het reeds die volgende partytjie vir Prooi bygewoon. Maar dit het beslis geen inbraak gemaak op die genot van eersgenoemde partytjie nie. Ek sien die grootste kritiek vir die dun boekie is, die boekie is te dun. Snaaks genoeg was dit nou vir my tans net perfek. Tyd vir lees is daar min, om […]

Posted August 15, 2020
4 Comments
Weekend Book Friends #6

Weekend Book Friends #6

It’s the weekend! Gosh, the past two weeks have been a bit rough. So glad it’s Friday and we can just sit back and enjoy our books for a day or two. Sorry we missed you guys last week, but there just wasn’t time to do any posts! Sick cat, sick staff at work, long weekend…. The excuses are endless. We’ll give a full update on Sunday, so check in then again. But we are here today and can’t wait to start our weekend! Let’s start with what book we are going to read over the next 72 hours. This is the third book in the Don Tillman trilogy and if you are looking for a fun, humorous series and love The Big Bang Theory, then this is the series for you!   The Rosie Result is the triumphant final installment of the internationally bestselling series that began with The Rosie Project. Meet Don Tillman, the genetics professor with a scientific approach to everything. But he’s facing a set of human dilemmas tougher than the trickiest of equations. Right now he is in professional hot water after a lecture goes viral; his wife of 4,380 days, Rosie, is about to lose the […]

Posted August 14, 2020
26 Comments

Wednesday Wisdom from The Art of Racing in the Rain

It’s cold and raining here in our little corner of the world. What better bookish quotes to share today than from The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein. I am a very fortunate little kitten, I get to share a house with my very own Enzo. His name is Hercules and he and Enzo would have been great friends. So for today’s post, all pictures will be of him. Of course there are a few of us together, but not today. Today is about him.  I know my mommy loved this book very much. I’ve only seen the movie with them and I do understand why it had such an impact on her. Poor Enzo. He so desperately wanted to come “back” as a human.  Maybe I will also like to come back as a little girl. Then again, maybe not. Life’s pretty good as a fluffy white kitten. Hercules is such a good dog. He’s Daddy’s best friend and he’s Mommy’s “first born”. He’s getting older now, he turned 11 end of May. But we love him so. If you taught me to read and provide for me the same computer system as someone has provided for […]

Posted August 12, 2020
6 Comments