Format: Paperback

Wednesday Wisdom from Go As A River by Shelley Read

Go As A River by Shelley Read Published by Transworld Digital on March 7th, 2023 Genres: Historical Fiction Pages: 299 Format: Paperback Source: Book Club Buy on Amazon Goodreads On a cool autumn day in 1948, Victoria Nash delivers late-season peaches from her family’s farm set amid the wild beauty of Colorado. As she heads into her village, a dishevelled stranger stops to ask her the way. How she chooses to answer will unknowingly alter the course of both their young lives. So begins the mesmerising story of split-second choices and courageous acts that propel Victoria away from the only home she has ever known and towards a reckoning with loss, hope and her own untapped strength. Gathering all the pieces of her small and extraordinary existence, spinning through the eddies of desire, heartbreak and betrayal, she will arrive at a single rocky decision that will change her life for ever. GO AS A RIVER is a heart-wrenching coming-of-age story and a drama of enthralling power. Combining unforgettable characters and a breathtaking natural setting, it is a sweeping story of survival and becoming, of the deepest mysteries of love, truth and fate. “What I have learned most about becoming, is […]

Posted July 5, 2023
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Alfie all Alone by Holly Webb

Alfie all Alone by Holly Webb Series: Animal Stories #2 Published by Stripes Publishing on January 1ste, 2007 Genres: Childrens Pages: 128 Format: Paperback Source: VCS Buy on Amazon Goodreads Evie is overjoyed when she is given her very own puppy, Alfie. Alfie adores Evie – he loves to be cuddled, sleeps on her bed and welcomes her home from school every day with a wag of his tail. But it’s not long before another new member of the family arrives: Evie’s baby brother, Sam. Suddenly no-one has much time to look after Alfie, let alone play with him and take him for walks, and soon he finds himself unwanted and all alone… Greetings you guys! It’s time for another book review from one of our eager readers from Victory School. This amazingly throrough review landed on my Mommy’s desk with a lovely note from Gia Josephs. Gia is in Grade 5 and she loves reading so much! No wonder she is second in her class for this term. Gia decided to write her first book review (I have another by her waiting to get published!) on one of the Holly Webb Animal Stories books. Holly Webb is a very […]

Posted June 22, 2023
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Weekend Book Friends #38

Greetings you guys! It’s Friday and a long weekend here in South Africa. We celebrate Youth Day today. My Mommy says she can really start to feel her youth slipping away a bit as she is dead tired and just want to lie on the couch and read her book. Of course we can go and do that. As soon as we’ve managed to post our second Weekend Book Friends post for this year. Dreadfully shameful, I know. But I do understand that my Mommy just want to go and snuggle with her book. Our choice for this weekend really is a beaut. We’ve actually just started it last night, but we already know this is going to be a book we will love. We fell in love with Shelley Read’s writing style from the word go. Let’s see what my fellow weekend readers will think of this one. Our first stop is with @ Reading is my Super Power for First Line Friday and to Gilion @ Rose City Reader for Book Beginnings. Every Friday you can link up and share the first sentence of your current read (or the one you plan to devour over the weekend), as well as your initial […]

Posted June 16, 2023
18 Comments

Weekend Book Friends #36

Greetings you guys! How many Fridays do we have left? Two? Three? Gosh, I can’t believe we’ve only joined our Weekend Book Friends so few times during the past year. We used to take part every week! Was 2022 a very unorganized and messy year for you as well? Mommy and Daddy are on holiday. For three weeks! This is the longest they’ve been on holiday for 6 years. So far she hasn’t done much, not even a whole lot of reading. I believe she might finally be turning into a cat and has been sleeping mostly since yesterday when their holiday started. This morning we woke up to rainy weather and she quickly rushed to the Bookstore to go and buy just one book. Not that there are no other books to read in this house! Of course she came home with 4 books. She started with this one immediately: Let’s join up with our regular reading buddies to see if this book is actually going to work for us or not. Our first stop is with @ Reading is my Super Power for First Line Friday and to Gilion @ Rose City Reader for Book Beginnings. Every Friday you can link up and […]

Posted December 16, 2022
24 Comments

Wednesday Wisdom – The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak

The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak Published by Viking Adult on August 5th, 2021 Genres: Fiction Pages: 368 Format: Paperback Source: Book Club Buy on Amazon Goodreads A rich, magical new book on belonging and identity, love and trauma, nature and renewal, from the Booker shortlisted author of 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World. Two teenagers, a Greek Cypriot and a Turkish Cypriot, meet at a taverna on the island they both call home. In the taverna, hidden beneath garlands of garlic, chili peppers and creeping honeysuckle, Kostas and Defne grow in their forbidden love for each other. A fig tree stretches through a cavity in the roof, and this tree bears witness to their hushed, happy meetings and eventually, to their silent, surreptitious departures. The tree is there when war breaks out, when the capital is reduced to ashes and rubble, and when the teenagers vanish. Decades later, Kostas returns. He is a botanist looking for native species, but really, he’s searching for lost love. Years later, a Ficus carica grows in the back garden of a house in London where Ada Kazantzakis lives. This tree is her only connection to an island she has […]

Posted November 23, 2022
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The Nine Lives of Montezuma by Michael Morpurgo

The Nine Lives of Montezuma by Michael Morpurgo on January 1st, 2013 Genres: Childrens Pages: 170 Format: Paperback Source: VCS Buy on Amazon Goodreads His ears were pointed sharply and were long enough to be those of a wild cat. The farmyard was his kingdom – he had made it so. This is the story of the nine loves of a very special cat, from impetuous young kitten to the king of the farmyard. Wherever Montezuma goes, adventure and excitement are sure to follow! An enchanting take of feline charm from War Horse author Michael Morpurgo. Greetings you guys! We’ve been a bit quiet on the review side for school. Not that the kids don’t still write the most lovely reviews, it’s just a matter of getting the time to post them! We will try to update as many as we can within the last couple of weeks of school. Michael Morpurgo is by far one of the most popular authors amongst the VCS students. My Mommy is very happy about that and I am ecstatic to see that all his cat books are at the top of the list. His books are not only for children, but can be […]

Posted November 4, 2022
4 Comments

The Classics Club Spin #31 – Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

Greetings you guys! I am ever so proud of my Mommy. She just managed to finish her Classics Club Spin #31 book. Luckily it was a quick read, but by no means a light or an easy read. I’m sure we are in the minority of Classics Lovers who haven’t read this one yet: To review this book, will be no easy task either. If you look on Goodreads, there are over 43 000 reviews on this book, some of our favorite readers and bloggers amongst them. It does appear as if we are going to be in the minority with our 3.5 Star review as well. Yes, this book was beautifully written – wow. You can get lost in the prose and forget about the content as a whole. But then again, reading is a holistic experience. So why only 3.5 stars? The world has changed. Hasn’t it? Somehow, it became lighter. Somehow, it became heavier to carry a friend. Somehow, having a piece of the land isn’t the dream anymore. And somehow, we live in that world and adapts to it. As humans do. We become isolated to the story of George and Lennie. Animal cruelty will not […]

Posted October 30, 2022
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Weekend Book Friends #34

Greetings you guys! Not only is it Friday, but it’s also holidays for my Mommy. Hooray! Here’s to hoping this short break there will be lots of time for reading and blogging. The last 3 holidays have been filled with renovations and anyone who has ever tried renovating, will know – reading is the least and the last of your concerns. To get us in the mood for reading, we are busy with a readalong with a few of our fellow South African bloggers and Instagrammers. Seeing that tomorrow is heritage day here in SA, it’s just fitting that we read a South African Book. Our book of choice is a strong read with tales from South African women who refuse to be erased by the circumstances that render them invisible. We are all reading it together and read a couple of chapters a day. We then share our thoughts on Instagram, Twitter and whatever other social media sites we see fit. We aren’t very fit overall, but at least we are taking part. Let’s quickly go and say hi to @ Reading is my Super Power for First Line Friday and to Gilion @ Rose City Reader for Book Beginnings. Every Friday […]

Posted September 23, 2022
31 Comments

How to Train your Dragon by Cressida Cowell

How to Train your Dragon by Cressida Cowell Series: How to Train your Dragon #1 on February 4th, 2010 Genres: Childrens Pages: 240 Format: Paperback Source: VCS Buy on Amazon Goodreads Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, the quiet and thoughtful son of the Chief of the Hairy Hooligans, tries to pass the important initiation test of his Viking clan by catching and training a dragon. Can Hiccup do it without being torn limb from limb? Join his adventures and misadventures as he finds a new way to train dragons–and becomes a hero. This action-packed, hilarious, and perfectly illustrated novel is a modern classic beloved by millions across the globe. One of our favorite series’ in the library, is The How to Train your Dragon series by Cressida Cowell. Of course all the kids have seen the highly successful movie adaptations of these books, but they will also be the first ones to say that it’s not quite the same as the books. I’m not sure if this is a case of the book-is-better-than-the movie or the movie-is-better-than-the-book, as the kids split 50/50 here. But let me quite meowing about the series and let’s see what Enrique (Ricky) Jordaan in Gr4 has […]

Posted August 26, 2022
6 Comments

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus on April 5th, 2022 Genres: Fiction Pages: 390 Format: Paperback Source: Book Club Buy on Amazon Goodreads Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing as an average woman. But it’s the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute takes a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one: Calvin Evans; the lonely, brilliant, Nobel–prize nominated grudge-holder who falls in love with—of all things—her mind. True chemistry results. But like science, life is unpredictable. Which is why a few years later Elizabeth Zott finds herself not only a single mother, but the reluctant star of America’s most beloved cooking show Supper at Six. Elizabeth’s unusual approach to cooking (“combine one tablespoon acetic acid with a pinch of sodium chloride”) proves revolutionary. But as her following grows, not everyone is happy. Because as it turns out, Elizabeth Zott isn’t just teaching women to cook. She’s daring them to change the status quo. Laugh-out-loud funny, shrewdly observant, and studded with a dazzling cast of supporting characters, Lessons in Chemistry is as original and vibrant as its […]

Posted August 13, 2022
17 Comments

Format: Paperback

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